


Masquerade

by kimurasato



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-07
Updated: 2014-04-09
Packaged: 2018-01-18 13:53:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 45,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1430905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimurasato/pseuds/kimurasato
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When an old enemy and a new ghost hunter appear in town, Danny finds his life turned upside down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written back in 2004-2005.
> 
> There's a bit of OOC with Danny in some parts of the story as a result of a wish.

Danny phased through the brick wall into an abandoned warehouse, missing the blast directed at him by mere centimeters. His attacker, a human, couldn’t follow him through the wall without destroying it first, so Danny had a moment to relax before he needed to start running again. Valerie gave up the ghost hunting job when she moved away to California with her father a little less than a year ago.

_So who’s the ghost hunter this time?_ Danny wondered as he tried to calm the panic building inside him. He went on patrol that night alone since Tucker and Sam were too busy on a date. When he first learned of their relationship, Danny was angry with his two best friends. At the time, he still had a small crush on Sam, all thanks to Ember’s little love spell and the fake out make out he shared with Sam that one time. But now two years later, his crush on Sam had faded away, and Danny found he was happy for both his friends.

With Tucker and Sam dating and keeping up with school work and studying for exams, Danny patrolled for ghosts alone more often than in their freshmen year. Then tonight, out of nowhere, a new ghost hunter attacked him. Danny couldn’t remember doing anything to anyone that would cause them to hold a grudge against him, like with Valerie.

“Now you are mine, ghost child,” stated someone with a familiar voice.

Danny’s gaze snapped up, and he found Skulker floating before him with one of his weapons aimed at the half ghost. “Can’t you come around some other time, Skulker?” he questioned with a groan. He didn’t want to play the game of cat and mouse with Skulker while being chased by some new ghost hunter, who appeared to be a lot better trained than Valerie on her first attempts at the job.

“Did you really think you could escape that easily?” the ghost hunter demanded as he blasted away the door to the warehouse.

“I can’t catch a break, can I?” Danny mumbled in annoyance.

But the ghost hunter’s entrance called Skulker’s attention away from the half ghost. When he noticed that fact, Danny shoved Skulker toward the hunter. The ghost collided with the man, and they tumbled to the ground. Danny passed through the wall again and flew as fast and far away as possible before Skulker and the ghost hunter realized their mutual prey escaped. He decided he had had enough excitement for one night, so he headed back to his house, slipping inside through the open window in his room.

“You’re home a lot later than usual, Danny,” Jazz stated from where she sat at the foot of his bed.

“Jazz! What are you doing in my room?” Danny demanded as he tossed the Fenton Thermos onto his desk. First a new ghost hunter, then the return of Skulker, now Jazz randomly appearing in his room. What else would he have to deal with in one night?

“I was worried that something happened to you! It’s three in the morning, and you’re only now getting home from patrolling. I don’t think you should patrol alone anymore.”

Danny saw the concern showing on his sister’s face and regretted causing his sister to worry about him. He knew how much she cared about his safety. Their parents would probably worry as much as she did if they knew that he snuck out at night to fight ghosts.

“I can take care of myself,” Danny argued. “And Tucker still has butterfingers. Last time he patrolled with me, he dropped the thermos again and released the ghosts I had captured that night.” Danny flopped onto the bed beside his sister when a thought struck him. “Shouldn’t you be at college right now?”

“I came back to pick up a few things. I’m heading back Sunday morning.” Jazz glanced at her brother and saw the tired, almost depressed, expression on his face. “You look a little down. Is everything okay?”

“Huh? Oh, I’m fine. I’m just tired.” Danny faked a yawn as proof of his tiredness. “Since you’ll be here until Sunday, why don’t you come with Sam, Tucker, and me to the football game tomorrow night?”

“Sounds like fun.” Jazz smiled at her brother as she drew him into a one armed hug. “I’ll see you in the morning.” She stood and headed for the door.

“Night, Jazz,” Danny whispered and lay back on the bed.

Danny stared at the ceiling, watching the shadows play across the smooth surface. He knew had fallen into another bout of depression, which came in cycles, though the bouts came more often now than they had in the beginning. His sister was usually away at college so he couldn’t talk with her that much anymore. Tucker and Sam spent most of their time together and maybe every other weekend did something together with him. With the only people he had as friends too busy, Danny felt like he had no one to really turn to for help or just to talk. And he knew Jazz would go into overprotective sister mode if he told her about the new ghost hunter. Danny only wanted someone he could spend time with when Tucker and Sam were unavailable, and he usually felt like the third wheel when they did hang out together.

Danny released a sigh as he rolled onto his side. His eyes slipped shut, but sleep didn’t come easy to the young half ghost.

 

“Do you think Danny’s becoming more distant towards us?” Sam asked Tucker while they walked to the Fenton’s house. “It just seems like he isn’t talking to us as much.”

“Well, we haven’t really been paying him a lot of attention since we started dating.” Tucker frowned as he realized he had been a bad friend to Danny by ignoring him to go on dates with Sam when they weren't all busy with studying. “Maybe we should try to find someone to set Danny up with. He hasn’t had a date in a few months.”

“Yeah, but he’s either dated or been shot down by pretty much every girl at our school.” Sighing, Sam tried to think of a girl at Casper High that Danny hadn’t asked on a date.

“Maybe we should try looking at another school,” Tucker suggested. “I hear that Nosferatu High is having a Halloween Masquerade dance. I know a few people there. If I ask, they can get us guest passes to attend the dance.”

“That’s a great idea! But do you think we can convince him to go?”

“Even if we can’t convince him, we can always force him to go,” Tucker answered with a grin. They stopped talking about Danny as they reached the front door of the Fenton’s house. Tucker rang the doorbell, and two seconds later, Danny threw the door open.

“Hey, Tuck, Sam!” Danny greeted. “I hope you don’t mind, but I invited Jazz to come along since she’s visiting this weekend.”

“No, that’s cool. Go get her, so we can leave,” Tucker said. Danny ran back into the house, calling for Jazz. A few minutes later, the siblings returned, ready to leave for the game.

“It’s great to see you again, Jazz. How’s college?” Sam asked as the two girls took the lead while the four of them headed to Casper High.

“So how did patrolling go last night? Fight any strong ghosts?” Tucker inquired, nudging Danny’s side with his elbow. Danny raised his hand to rub the back of his neck.

“Well, I ran into an old face last night,” Danny mumbled. “Skulker’s back in town.”

“He’s still hunting you? Man, I thought he had finally given up since we hadn’t heard from him in a while.” Tucker sighed with a shake of his head.

“Unfortunately, it seems I’m still his number one target.” Danny chewed the inside of his cheek, wondering if he should say anything about the other surprise he received last night. He decided it wouldn’t hurt to tell someone else. If Sam and Tucker patrolled with him again, they would find out about the ghost hunter sooner or later. “I ran into someone else last night. It was a new ghost hunter.”

“What? A new one? Do you have any clue who it could be?” Tucker jumped on the new topic, eyes wild with curiosity and fear from the threat that the ghost hunter posed.

“Not really,” Danny answered in a weak voice. He cleared his throat before continuing. “I was more concerned about escaping in one piece than who the face behind the mask was.”

“Skulker and a new ghost hunter? I think Sam and I need to spend more time patrolling with you,” Tucker stated, worried about his friend’s safety. “I wonder who would have a grudge against you this time.”

“It could always just be some random person who wants to hunt ghosts,” Danny said with a shrug. “Maybe the person’s reason has nothing to do with me. But,” Danny paused as he remembered what the ghost hunter had looked like. “His weapons and his outfit… they looked like they came from the same place Valerie got her ghost hunting equipment.”

“Then maybe it does have something to do with you,” Tucker offered and received a strange look from his friend. “Okay. Yes, Valerie had a grudge against you. But what if the person who provided her with the ghost hunting equipment used her grudge to get someone to chase after and perhaps capture you? What if that person has a grudge against you as well? He must if he’s sending another ghost hunter after you.”

“But we can’t be sure the ghost hunter was after me because I’m me and the mystery provider told him to chase me and not because I’m a ghost,” Danny argued.

When they arrived at Casper High, Tucker and Danny stopped their talk of the new ghost hunter. The four of them walked around the school to the football field. The game had already started. The crowd cheered as the players fought their way through the other team’s defense line toward the end zone. They found some open spots on the bleachers among the rowdy crowd and sat down to watch the game.

Danny enjoyed going to football games even though he didn’t really like the sport. At the games, he felt like an average teenager again. His worries about ghosts and ghost hunters disappeared the moment he leaped to his feet and started cheering for his school’s team.

“I never realized how much Danny liked football,” Jazz whispered to Sam, but Danny heard her.

Danny smiled to himself, loving the rush of feelings he received from something as simple as cheering. He sat on the edge of his seat, waiting for that one guy whose name he could never remember to snap the ball to Dash. The blond jock still wasn’t one of his favorite people, but when he watched the game, Danny found he always mentally cheered for the jock.

Finally, the player snapped the ball to Dash, and the game was set into motion again. Danny watched with all his attention focused on Dash while rooting the jock on in his mind. Dash searched the field for an open player. Once someone got open, Dash threw the ball to the other player. The crowd roared with excitement; however, Danny’s gaze remained on Dash. No one else seemed to pay any attention, but Danny noticed it. Dash was hurt! The other team had intercepted the pass with great ease. Dash didn’t throw the ball as well as he had in every other game because his right arm had been hurt somehow. Danny slumped back on the bench with a frown on his face and his brow wrinkled with concern.

“Is something wrong, Danny?” Tucker asked when he noticed the sudden change in his friend.

“Dash is hurt,” Danny responded, but worry distracted his mind from everything happening in the game. He worried that Dash might hurt himself more if he continued to play in the game with his throwing arm hurt.


	2. Chapter 2

“Yo, Fenton!” Kwan said as he slapped Danny on the back, causing the shorter man to stumble.

“Oh, hey, Kwan. Did you need something?” Danny shoved his textbook into his book bag. The rest of the weekend had passed without another encounter with the ghost hunter or Skulker. Tucker patrolled with him both Saturday and Sunday. He pestered Danny about attending the Halloween Masquerade dance at Nosferatu High, who beat them at the football game on Saturday.

“We don’t have school this Friday, so I wanted to know if we were going to have our weekly tutor session.”

“Yeah, sure,” Danny responded in a distracted voice as he glanced down the hallway. His ghost sense had escaped his mouth in a blue wisp as Kwan talked. But he couldn’t find any ghosts.

Jazz had first tutored Kwan, but the poor football jock had a difficult time learning the way Jazz taught. Kwan came over one day to tell Jazz he was going to look for another tutor. Except Jazz hadn’t been home at the time, and he ended up talking with Danny. Somehow they got on the topic of homework. Kwan explained his problem remembering everything they learned in class and how Jazz’s method of teaching didn’t help. Danny admitted he had similar problems and offered some study tips. Sometime during the conversation, Danny agreed to tutor Kwan, who turned out to be smarter than Danny thought.

“Great! Let’s meet at Nasty Burger at noon on Friday,” Kwan said, drawing Danny’s attention back to the present.

“Right. Nasty Burger. Noon. I’ll see you there.” Danny grinned at the taller man, who slapped him on the back again. Kwan turned to walk down the hallway when Danny grabbed his arm. “About the game last Saturday-”

“Bummer, huh?” Kwan shook his head in dismay. “I thought we’d win that one for sure.”

“Um, yeah, but I noticed something. Did Dash hurt his arm?” Danny’s brow wrinkled with concern, and Kwan blinked as he processed Danny’s question.

“I didn’t think you cared about Dash.” Kwan laughed, ruffling Danny’s hair with one hand.

“I don’t care about Dash,” Danny grumbled and shooed the hand away. “I’m only asking because he could have been the reason we lost. If he’s hurt, he shouldn’t be playing.”

“When I brought you to that one game, I didn’t expect you to become a fanatic.” Kwan sighed and ran his hand through the short strands of his dark hair. “If Dash says he can play, then no one’s going to argue with him. Don’t worry about it too much.” Kwan patted the shorter man on the shoulder. “See you on Friday.” Then he walked away.

Danny shut his locker and slung his book bag over his shoulder. They had one more football game this year, unless they made it into the championship, but that looked impossible with the recent loss on Saturday. Danny turned to head toward Tucker and Sam’s lockers when he remembered the couple decided to do something together right after school. They hadn’t told him anything about what they were doing. Sighing, he walked alone through the empty hallways of the school.

As Danny reached the front entrance to the school, another wisp of blue left his mouth. Danny glanced around the hallway, searching for any sign of a ghost. When he turned to face the doors again, he received a brief glance at a familiar face before a blast sent him skidding back down the hallway. Danny groaned and rolled onto his side, holding one side of his head in his hand.

“I’m here to claim what’s mine,” Skulker announced as he floated toward the teenager. He reached down and grabbed a hunk of dark hair, pulling the man onto his feet.

“How many times do I have to throw you into the Ghost Zone before you leave me alone?” Danny muttered. He pulled away with a violent tug, causing Skulker to rip the hair in his hand from Danny’s head. He stumbled over his feet and landed on his back.

“Until I capture you, I’ll never stop hunting you.” Skulker smirked, towering over the young half ghost. Before he had the chance to switch in ghost form to fight Skulker, Danny spotted the new ghost hunter behind the ghost.

“Kid, get away,” the ghost hunter ordered, holding his gun aimed at Skulker.

Danny scrambled away mere seconds before the blast of the hunter’s gun sent Skulker soaring toward the end of the hallway. The ghost hunter approached him, and Danny flinched, fearing the hunter knew he was half ghost.

“You should get out of here before that ghost comes back,” the ghost hunter said, and Danny blinked in confusion. The hunter was trying to save him? Then the hunter couldn’t tell that Danny was a ghost!

“Who - who are you?” Danny asked.

“Just call me Ahura Mazda,” the ghost hunter said, and Danny got the impression that he smirked behind his helmet’s visor. Ahura glanced down the hallway; then he turned quickly, reaching out for Danny. An icy arm wound its way around Danny’s waist as a hand wrapped over his mouth to stifle Danny’s startled yelp.

_Shit!_ Danny’s mind screamed. _If I use my ghost powers, then this Ahura Mazda guy will know I’m really a ghost. And I don’t even know who he really is. This is bad!_

“Let the kid go,” Ahura shouted with his gun aimed at Skulker. Danny’s stomach twisted into knots while panic surged through him. He had to escape, but he couldn’t reveal himself to Ahura. What should he do in this situation?

“I’m not letting my prey go,” Skulker said, holding Danny closer to his ethereal body.

Danny struggled, making muffled noises of protest. Ahura hesitated, his hand shaking, before he steadied it with renewed determination. He pulled the trigger of his gun, making Danny flinch away when the warm heat of the blast skimmed the side of his face. Skulker released his prey as he phased through the lockers to avoid the blast. Danny raised his hand cover his face where a burning sensation began when Ahura grabbed his arm. He blinked a few times while the ghost hunter dragged him from the school.

“I’ll tell you one more time. Get out of here,” Ahura shouted as he shoved Danny down the steps of the school.

“Wait. I-” Danny said and then paused. Why was he going to say he could help?

“Just go!” Ahura ordered. He turned back to the open doors and blasted Skulker away with rapid fire, not giving the ghost time to recover.

Danny hesitated, watching the ghost hunter take Skulker down, before he turned on his heel and ran down the street. The ghost hunter, his enemy, had saved him. Danny still couldn’t believe it. When he arrived at home, Danny rushed into the house and slammed the door behind him. His mother peeked out from the kitchen door and caught sight of her son running up the stairs to his room. Maddie frowned, worry creeping through her mind. She followed her son up the stairs to his room, knocking on the doorframe when she reached it.

“Danny, is everything all right?” Maddie questioned as she watched her son pace the length of his room.

“Huh? Oh, I’m fine,” Danny said. He paused in his trek to glance at his mother before he continued his pacing. Maddie took hold of her son’s arm and led him to his bed where they sat.

“You don’t look fine. You’re pale.” She placed a hand to Danny’s forehead. Then she realized she couldn’t feel anything through her thick black gloves. After removing a glove, she placed it to her son’s forehead once again. Danny didn’t feel warmer than usual though a light layer of sweat coated his forehead. She wiped her hand off on the blanket covering Danny’s bed. “Is something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” Danny stood to start pacing again, but Maddie grabbed the back of his shirt and forced him to sit again.

“Danny, you can tell me if something’s bugging you,” Maddie said in a sincere voice. Danny sighed, hanging his head in his hands.

“Remember the incident that happened with the Fenton Ghost Portal?” Danny bit his tongue, not wanting to say more, but he knew his mother would pressure him into telling her. _Maybe it’s better if I tell her_ , he thought.

“Of course I remember that.”

“Well, I…” Danny rubbed at his temple. Why was telling her so difficult? He couldn’t get the words to come out of his mouth. Maddie reached over and ran her hand into soothing circles over her son’s back, encouraging him to talk. “That incident, it - It made me half ghost.”

Danny clamped his eyes shut as he waited for his mother’s reaction. But the reaction he expected never came. He cracked his eyes open and tilted his head to gaze at his mother from under his bangs. With her eyes wide in disbelief, Maddie’s hand stilled upon Danny’s back as she tried to digest what he had said.

Danny sighed, turning his head away again. Two rings of light washed over him as he switched to ghost form to prove his statement. He heard a gasp from his mother as she gazed at the white haired ghost known as Danny Phantom. Then the rings traveled up and down his body again, returning him to his normal human form. They sat in silence. The tick tock of the clock sounded louder than ever as Danny chewed on his lip in nervousness.

“Why didn’t you come to us?” Maddie asked, her expression changing from shock to concern for her son.

“I - I don’t know. I guess I was afraid of your reaction,” Danny answered as he stood. He began pacing again, and this time his mother didn’t force him to sit again. Maddie sat on the bed and waited in silence for her son to continue. “You’re ghost hunters. I didn’t know how you would react to your own son being half ghost. And I thought I could handle it by myself.”

“Dan-” A loud explosion cut Maddie off, causing little bit of dust to fall from the ceiling. Maddie sighed with a roll of her eyes. “That’s the fifth time your father’s exploded something today.” Maddie gave a weak smile, but the commented received no reaction from Danny. “Something else is bothering you, right?”

Danny glanced at his mother before returning his gaze to the floor. “Up until about a year ago, Valerie was a ghost hunter,” Danny explained. “Mostly, she was targeting me because I caused a bit of trouble for her and her father trying to capture this ghost dog. She couldn’t forgive me even though I didn’t mean to do it.”

“But she moved to California.” Maddie frowned when Danny didn’t look relieved by that statement.

With a sigh, Danny dropped back onto the bed beside his mother. “There’s this ghost named Skulker,” he said, chewing the inside of his cheek.

“You keep switching topics.” Maddie grew worried. Her son had this whole other life that she hadn’t even noticed until now.

“Sorry.” Danny took a deep breath, holding it before releasing it. “Skulker, he hunts rare and unique things like me. He’s been trying to capture me for a couple of years. But he disappeared for a little while. I thought he finally gave up. Then last Friday, he came back. But that’s nothing to worry about since I can handle him.”

“So then what’s bothering you?” Maddie asked, trying to make a connection with everything Danny had told her.

“Last Friday, a new ghost hunter appeared and tried to catch me.” Danny rubbed the back of his neck with a frown set on his face. “Then today Skulker attacked me again after school. And I was going to fight back, but then the ghost hunter came.” Danny’s face scrunched up with a look of disbelief. “He saved me from Skulker. I knew I had to be careful when I switched to ghost form because someone might see me, but now I have to be even more careful because that someone could be the ghost hunter.” He turned to his mother. “What am I supposed to do?”

Maddie squeezed her son’s shoulder, frowning and thinking of everything she had learned about her son’s life in the last half hour. Danny was half ghost. He was being chased by both a ghost and a ghost hunter. The ghost hunter didn’t know he was also a human and had protected him from the ghost. She didn’t know what to tell him in this kind of situation.

“Perhaps… Your father and I can invent _something_ to keep the ghost hunter from detecting you in ghost form. In the mean time, you should be careful when you transform,” Maddie said. From Danny’s expression, she could tell that wasn’t the answer he had expected. “Sorry. I just need some time to think about all of this.”

“It’s okay.” Danny let a small smile cross his face. “I’m sure I can handle this. It’s nice to finally tell you though.” Maddie smiled. She placed a short kiss to the top of Danny’s head and gave a tight squeeze to his shoulder before standing to leave his room. At the door, she paused and stared at him; then she turned and walked into the hallway. Danny sighed as he lay back on his bed and stared at the ceiling.


	3. Chapter 3

“So this Ahura Mazda ghost hunter guy saved you from Skulker?” Sam asked as a worried look crossed her face.

“Isn’t Mazda a car?” Tucker questioned, ignoring the seriousness of the conversation. With a glare, Sam slapped him upside the head.

“It’s strange, but I feel like I owe this guy.” Danny frowned at his friends as he pushed away his lunch tray, not feeling all that hungry at the moment.

“Owe him? What are you going to do? Walk up to this ghost hunter guy and say ‘Hey, I’m part ghost. You saved me the other day, and I felt I owed you something so you can kill me now?’ That’s insane, Danny!” Tucker slammed his hands on the table, catching a few people’s attention. Most people had learned to ignore the trio’s outbursts. “You need to find out who this guy is.”

“I understood Valerie’s reason, but I can’t figure out why this guy became a ghost hunter.” Danny ran a hand through his hair; then scratched the back of his neck. He glanced at the clock on the far wall of the cafeteria and released a sigh. “Time for gym class. Hooray.” Danny’s voice dripped with sarcasm as he rolled his eyes.

“We’ll see you after school then,” Tucker said as they left the cafeteria.

“No date?” Danny thought the two had made plans, and his brow rose in shock.

“Skulker and the ghost hunter seem to appear when you’re alone,” Sam said. “Of course, this is based off two incidents. It might be better if we were with you when you patrol.”

“With the ghost hunter around, that might not be the best idea. Ahura Mazda might realize who I really am. But we could still hang out.” Danny smiled, hoping they wouldn’t ditch him to go on a date.

“You’re not going to patrol?” Sam gave Danny another worried look.

“I don’t patrol until around nine, so we can hang out after school.” Danny stopped at the entrance to the main hall of their school.

“Okay, we’ll catch a movie or something,” Sam said. They parted ways, Sam and Tucker heading for their French class and Danny heading for his gym class. Danny changed into his uniform and quickly left the locker room.

“Fenton!” shouted the gym teacher, Mr. Finn, as soon as Danny entered the gymnasium. “Go bring out the volleyball equipment!”

_Great. Volleyball_ , Danny thought with false enthusiasm. He walked to the open door of the gym’s storage room. When he stepped through the doorway, a wisp of blue mist escaped him as he gasped. He recognized the man standing before him in an instant.

“Skulker,” Danny growled through clenched teeth. “What do you think you’re doing here?”

“Hunting you,” Skulker answered, grinning at the angry half ghost. “Like the body?” He turned in a complete circle to show off the product of his newest invention sporting a similar gym uniform. “You wouldn’t believe how long it took me to create a device to give me this body.”

“What is your obsession with me? I would seriously like to know why you don’t give up already.” Danny flinched when Skulker stepped closer. The ghost smirked before he attacked, tackling the half ghost to the ground. But Skulker made them both intangible, and they slipped through the floor into the basement beneath the gym. Danny groaned as pain shot through his back.

“Now we can talk in private,” Skulker said, placing his hands on either side of the half ghost’s head. Danny clamped his eyes shut, concentrating on switching to ghost form.

“I can’t go ghost,” Danny whispered with a hint of fear. His eyes snapped open to stare at the ghost above him.

“I had to make sure you couldn’t get away, so I put up a spectral interference field in this room.”

“You planned all of this?” Danny asked incredulously.

Skulker smirked at the glare Danny gave him. He leaned down and seized the half ghost’s lips with his own. Danny’s body tensed at the gentle pressure.

When he pulled away, Skulker stared into the man’s wide, terrified eyes. Then Danny’s gaze became hard and angry as he punched Skulker in the gut. While the pain distracted Skulker, Danny crawled from underneath him and then bolted for the stairs out of the basement. Recovering from the blow, Skulker chased his escaping prey. When he caught up, Skulker grabbed Danny’s arm, spinning him around, and slammed him against the wall by the stairwell.

“What are you playing at, Skulker?” Danny asked as he squirmed in the ghost’s grip.

“Are you really that blind?” Skulker loosened his grip but still held Danny pinned to the wall. “We are meant for each other.”

“Okay. I now think you've gone insane.” Danny struggled even more and tried to kick the ghost in the shins. But Skulker stepped closer, pressing their bodies together and making it harder for Danny to move.

“You’re half ghost. Who do you think is going to love you when they find out about that? They’ll abandon you and label you a freak. You don’t belong with humans, but you don’t belong with ghosts. You don’t fit in anywhere.” Skulker gave him another short kiss, but he received no response from the numb man. “No one else sees you for the wonderful and unique being that you are. Only I could ever love you the way you deserve.”

Danny clamped his eyes closed and turned his head away when Skulker leaned in for another kiss. “You love me?” Danny snorted as his body shook with anger. “You must really be insane if you think I’ll believe that. What you feel isn’t love. It’s just a sick obsession you have.”

“Open your eyes, ghost boy.” Skulker pressed his body against the man, his lips brushing over Danny’s lips. “I love you. I’m not going to stop chasing you. One day, you’ll realize we’re meant for each other.”

“I will _never_ love you.” Danny tried switching to ghost form again, but the result was the same. When Skulker’s lips pressed fully upon his own, he growled. He slid a little down the wall, but Skulker followed, refusing to let Danny escape his kiss. Then Skulker’s weight disappeared from in front of him, and Danny collapsed to the ground.

“What do ya think yer doin’?” the school’s janitor asked as he whacked Skulker with his mop. He glanced toward Danny. “Get out with ya.”

Danny didn’t need to be told a second time. He jumped to his feet and raced up the stairs while the janitor held Skulker back. Once Danny was out of the basement, the janitor turned back to Skulker.

“If ya truly want ‘im, ya gonna have ta court ‘im,” the janitor said, giving Skulker one last whack of his mop. “Ya can’t make ‘im love ya by forcin’ yerself upon ‘im.”

Skulker grumbled with a frown set on his face.

Meanwhile, Danny returned to the gym’s locker room to change back into his regular clothes. Then he headed to the nurse’s office, pretending to have a stomach ache.

When school ended, the nurse told Danny he would have to leave because she had a meeting she needed to attend. Danny left the office and went to find Sam and Tucker. He scanned the crowd for Skulker. When he didn’t spot him, he sighed in relief.

“Are you okay, Danny? You don’t look so good,” Sam said as Danny approached them at their lockers.

“Oh, I was feeling a little queasy during gym, but I’m fine now.” Danny put on a grin to prove he was fine. “Ready to go to the movies?”

They left the school and headed to the movie theater downtown. After a few minutes debating what movie to watch, they paid for their tickets and headed to the theater playing the movie. Danny collapsed into his seat, thankful that Skulker hadn’t popped up again.

As the movie played, he couldn’t stop thinking about what Skulker had said. He glanced at Sam and Tucker. _They wouldn’t really abandon me, would they?_ Danny wondered and then felt bad. They were his best friends. They wouldn’t abandon him because he was half ghost. After all, they had stuck with him for four years after learning about what he was.

But he couldn’t stop feeling that Skulker might be right, except about the being in love with him part. _Skulker’s not capable of feeling something like love_ , Danny thought. _I hope Speedstar is online tonight_. Danny started to relax and focus on the movie right as the credit began rolling up the black screen. He nodded and smiled to everything Sam and Tucker said about the movie, but he didn’t have a clue what actually happened in the movie.


	4. Chapter 4

Danny collapsed into the seat at his desk after a long day at school and turned on his computer. Skulker had appeared in his gym class again the next day using his fake body to trick everyone into thinking he was a living person. Danny massaged his temples in frustration when he remembered Skulker watching him as he changed before and after class. _At least this time, he didn’t drag me into the basement to kiss me again_ , Danny thought with a shudder. Today, Skulker watched Danny from a distance without approaching the half ghost once.

As soon as the computer booted up, Danny signed online. He searched his buddies list to see if a certain someone was online. Finding the person he wanted, Danny sent an instant message to the other person.

**RavenPhan** : Hey! So glad your on. I need to talk.  
 **Speedstar** : Did something happen?  
 **RavenPhan** : Yeah… this guy, let’s call him Bob, we’ve been at each other’s throats for about four years… we’re pretty much enemies.  
 **Speedstar** : and something happened with him?  
 **RavenPhan** : he… kissed me.  
 **RavenPhan** : I hate this guy, btw.  
 **Speedstar** : I’m sensing there’s a “but” here.

Danny chewed on his lower lip with his hands poised over the keyboard ready to type. He took a deep breath and then typed his reply.

**RavenPhan** : But… I don’t know… some part of me was happy that someone kissed me.  
 **Speedstar** : This was your fist kiss?  
 **Speedstar** : *first  
 **RavenPhan** : … So I’m loser… You don’t have to rub it in my face.  
 **Speedstar** : Sorry. didn’t mean it as an insult.  
 **RavenPhan** : I still hate this guy though  
 **Speedstar** : has Bob ever given you any indication that he might like you?  
 **RavenPhan** : I would hardly call what Bob feels as love. more like an obsession for him. Now he has this delusion that he’s in love w/ me.  
 **Speedstar** : he sounds like the type of guy u should avoid.  
 **RavenPhan** : that’s a little difficult when he pops up out of nowhere.  
 **Speedstar** : You said ur going to Nosferatu’s Masquerade Dance, right?  
 **RavenPhan** : Yeah, my friend’s are making me go. They hope to set me up with someone there. -__-  
 **Speedstar** : Sounds like you aren’t happy about that. o.O?  
 **RavenPhan** : Idk. Sometimes it feels like they just want to hook me up with a girl so they don’t have to feel guilty about ditching me all the time.  
 **Speedstar** : So they don’t know about ur interest in guys?  
 **RavenPhan** : um… no… I kind of wanted to figure out whether I really do prefer guys to girls first.  
 **Speedstar** : I see… We could meet at the Masquerade Dance if you want. I could introduce you to some of the better guys at Nosferatu.  
 **RavenPhan** : Isn’t that breaking a rule or something?  
 **Speedstar** : we wouldn’t know who the other really is. We’ll be wearing masks after all.  
 **RavenPhan** : Ok Where should we meet?  
 **Speedstar** : At the entrance to the gym?  
 **RavenPhan** : All right. I’ll meet u there.  
 **Speedstar** : Great! I gotta go now. Lots of homework to do.  
 **RavenPhan** : Me 2.  
 **Speedstar** : Bye!  
 **RavenPhan** : Bye!  
 _ **Speedstar** has signed off_.

Danny signed offline. Grabbing his book bag, he walked over to his bed and flopped onto it. A grin broke onto his face as he thought about Saturday night. He was going to meet Speedstar in person. The idea made him giddy with excitement. Danny never told the other man this, but he wanted to meet Speedstar ever since their first conversation. But Speedstar already had a boyfriend. Danny frowned, burying his head into the mattress. Speedstar was the one person other than Sam and Tucker that he felt comfortable talking to about anything. And of course, he had to be taken.

_Why can’t I meet a guy like Speedstar in real life?_ Danny wondered. Only one person had shown any interest in having a relationship with him, and that had to be a crazy, obsessive ghost. _Sometimes I really wish I had a normal life_. Danny rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling.

“Why is dating so hard?” Danny grumbled. He really couldn’t say much about the actual dating though since he had been rejected by pretty much everyone he ever asked. There were only a few times when he actually managed to get a girl to say yes to him, and there was never a second date. “And why is it only Wednesday?” He frowned, realizing he had to wait three days before he could meet Speedstar.

“Danny, dinner’s ready,” Maddie called from the first floor.

“Sorry, homework, you’ll have to wait for later.” Danny grinned as he jumped off his bed and raced down the stairs heading for the kitchen.

“So how was school?” Jack asked when Danny sat at the table. His eyes narrowed at his son, and he wore that look that screamed “I know you’ve done something bad” on his face.

“Um, it was good,” Danny replied with a forced grin.

“That’s not what Mr. Lancer told us.” Jack slammed his hand down on the table. “He told us you skipped his class yesterday. He also mentioned that you skipped your gym and history classes as well. Explain that!”

“I was feeling a bit sick at the beginning of gym so I went to the nurse’s office.” Danny shrank in his seat.

“Danny, did something happen at school?” Maddie questioned.

“No! Why do you think something happened? I felt sick!” Danny dropped his gaze to the plate in front of him. “Mmm! Dinner looks great, Mom.”

“If something happened, you can tell us.” Maddie continued, thinking she might be able to pry some sort of information out of her son. “If a ghost attacked-”

“No! No ghost.” Danny shook his head. He dug into his meal, devouring it as fast as he could.

“If it’s nothing, why are you acting so defensive about it?”

“There was a ghost, wasn’t there?” Jack demanded, leaning over the table so he towered over his son. “Tell us the truth.”

Danny sighed, setting the fork on the table beside his plate. “Fine. There was a ghost.” He lifted his head to stare at his parents with an angry look on his face. “Are you going to do this every time something happens?”

“We’re just trying to look out for you,” Maddie answered, placing a hand over Danny’s hand. “Was it that Skulker guy again?”

“If you really must know, yes, it was.” Danny dropped his gaze again. _I can’t tell them the crazy ghost attacked me to say he loved me_ , Danny thought, tapping his fingers on the table. “After the fight, gym class was pretty much over. I didn’t really feel like attending my last two classes, so I went to the nurse’s office.”

“We could stake out the school,” Jack suggested.

“No! That’s not necessary. I don’t need you to babysit me. I’m eighteen. I’ve had these powers for four years. I think I can handle Skulker by now.” _Except not when he says “I love you_ ,” Danny thought.

“Okay. If that’s what you really want,” Maddie said, a sad look crossing her face.

“Mom,” Danny said with a sigh, “it’s not that I don’t want your help. Your inventions are great. I just don’t want you to fight my battles for me.”

A small smile slipped onto Maddie’s face. “My little boy’s growing up so fast.” She pretended to wipe away tears. “It seems like only yesterday I was changing your diapers.”

“Mom!” Danny shouted though he was laughing along with his mother while Jack looked on in confusion.

“Oh, Danny, we finished a new invention,” Maddie said.

Jack reached into one of his pockets to retrieve the invention. “The Fenton Cloak,” he said with his usual enthusiasm, holding the device in his son’s face.

“Isn’t that a watch?” Danny asked with an unimpressed look.

“We did that to make to make it look less suspicious,” Jack replied with pride for their invention.

“The top two buttons turn it on,” Maddie explained. “It generates an energy field around you so when you’re in ghost form, you’ll appear to be human on the ghost hunter’s radar. The bottom two buttons turn it off.”

“Always turn it off when you’re not in ghost form,” Jack added.

“Why?” Danny asked as he strapped on the Fenton Ghost Cloak around his wrist.

“Those batteries aren’t cheap,” Jack answered, falling back into his chair.

“Well, yes, there is that,” Maddie said. “But the real reason is because of the energy field. If the ghost hunter checks his radar and you have the Fenton Ghost Cloak on while in human form, your energy levels will appear abnormally high. He might become suspicious of you. It’s best to remember to turn it off when you switch out of ghost form.”

“Awesome! Thanks, Mom!” Danny grinned at his mother. He heard a displeased grunt from his other side. “You too, Dad.”


	5. Chapter 5

“I can’t believe Paulina dumped me,” said Jordan, one of the football players.

“Kwan, I thought we came here for a tutor session,” Danny whispered to Kwan as he watched some of the other football team members pat Jordan on the back. One guy asked if he could ask Paulina out and was kicked under the table by another member.

“Sorry. I didn’t realize all the football guys were going to meet here,” Kwan said with an apologetic look on his face.

“What is Fenton doing here?” Dash asked when he noticed the shorter man sitting at the booth with the rest of the football jocks. He glared at Danny across the table from where he sat like his gaze would make Danny vanish.

“Way to make a person feel welcomed,” Danny muttered with a roll of his eyes as he rested his head in his hand.

“You’re _not_ welcomed here, loser.” Dash’s eye twitched when Danny remained sitting at their table in the Nasty Burger. The rest of the team stopped talking to watch what was happening between their friend and the “loser.”

“What? Are you afraid I’m going to spread my loser genes to you?” Danny gave Dash a bored look like the jock’s words had no effect on him.

“Dash, I invited him,” Kwan cut in.

“I don’t care. Why does he have to sit with us?” Dash never took his gaze off the shorter man. Danny frowned when he thought he saw something flash in Dash’s eyes, but it disappeared before he could figure out what it was.

“Fine. I’ll leave.” Danny stood, grabbing his book bag, as he headed for the exit of Nasty Burger.

“Wait!” Kwan called, but Danny had already walked out the door. “Why are you always such a jerk to people?” He turned back and pinned a glare on Dash.

“Why are defending him? He’s just a loser.” Dash leaned back in the booth with a satisfied smirk.

Kwan shook his head in disappointment as he left the booth. Some of the other football members tried to call him back, but he ignored them. He walked outside and met Danny leaning against the wall.

“Sorry about that back there,” Kwan said, apologizing since he knew Dash never would.

“It’s okay. I’m used to it by now.” Danny shrugged it off, not in the least bit surprised by Dash's antagonistic attitude toward him.

“But it’s not okay!” Kwan sighed and leaned against the wall beside Danny. “Dash can be a stupid asshole sometimes. He and the other football idiots were the ones who joined _us_ uninvited. He had no right kicking you out of the booth.”

“I said it was okay, Kwan. You don’t need to defend me.” Danny shifted awkwardly, feeling odd about the jock standing up for him to his friends.

“Yes, I do. You’re a really good friend. And you're one of the few people who sees me as something other than a dumb jock.”

Danny blinked at the other man, thrown by his words. “Um… so do you know of a better place to study?” he questioned, trying to hide the blush that rose to his face at the admission to being Kwan’s friend.

“Your house?” Kwan suggested. He didn’t want to return to his own house because some of his relatives were staying with them. His relatives were always loud and argued with one another, so they wouldn’t be able to do much studying at his house.

“Okay.” Danny pushed off the wall and started leading the way back to his house. Glancing one last time into Nasty Burger to see Dash watching them, Kwan turned and followed Danny down the street. “What subject do you want to start with?”

“History? I have to write a paper about the American Revolution, and I’m not sure about some points.”

They started a discussion about the war. Danny had a few difficulties remembering some of the details they had gone over in class that week. They were almost to the Fenton’s house when someone approached them. Danny stopped, his mouth drawing into a thin line at the sight of the brunet before him.

“Hello, Danny,” Skulker greeted, smiling at the half ghost.

“What do you want?” Danny growled, nostrils flaring in rage, while his hands curled into fists at his sides.

“I thought maybe we could hang out.” Skulker stepped closer, causing Danny to flinch back.

“Who are you?” Kwan asked in confusion because he had never seen this man at their school.

“I’m… Johnny Radcliff. And you are?” Skulker questioned, turning to glare at Kwan like he was the most vile thing on the face of the Earth.

“Well, _Johnny_ , I’m afraid I can’t hang out with you,” Danny said, jumping in before Kwan could answer. He grabbed Kwan’s arm and dragged him around Skulker. “We’re having a tutor session.”

“I’ll join you then.” Skulker walked along side them. He grinned at the discomfort rolling off the young half ghost.

“Will you just go away?” Danny growled in a low whisper.

“Why not let him join us?” Kwan asked. A seemingly innocent question, but it made Danny feel like screaming. “Maybe he could help us if we get stuck on something.”

“Yeah, like he said,” Skulker said. He threw an arm over Danny’s shoulder.

Danny thought his head would explode because of the throbbing pressure building inside it. He sent a glare toward the ghost in disguise, but the grin wouldn’t leave Skulker’s face. When they reached the Fenton’s house, Danny told them to set up in the front room while he went to the kitchen for snacks. Once in the kitchen, he started banging his head on the refrigerator.

“Danny, is something wrong?” Maddie asked as she came out of the laboratory.

Danny sighed as he opened the refrigerator to grab some cold sodas. “Just having some friends over,” he replied, eye twitching at the idea of calling Skulker his friend.

“I thought Tucker and Sam had things to do with their family today.” Maddie walked toward the door of the kitchen to see if it was really Tucker and Sam.

“They do. Kwan came over to study. The Nasty Burger ended up being a bad idea for a tutor session.” Danny reached into a cupboard near the refrigerator to get a bag of chips.

“Who’s the other guy?” Maddie asked, feeling a little uncomfortable with the way the man was staring toward the kitchen door.

“That… would be… um, Johnny Radcliff,” Danny answered, recalling the name Skulker had used earlier. He would have told his mother the truth, but he thought she might cause a scene and he didn’t want that in front of Kwan.

“I’ve never heard of him before.” Maddie turned back to Danny with her brow raised in confusion. “Is he a new student?”

“Yeah, he’s new, very new. He’s in my gym class.”

“Why would you invite him over here for a study session if you only share gym class together?” Maddie eyed her son, wondering if he was hiding something from her.

“Kwan invited him to join us.” Danny sighed as he headed for the door. _And as long as Kwan is there with us, I think Skulker will behave_ , he thought and then added, _I hope_. Danny walked into the front room and joined the other two men on the couch. He placed the sodas and chips on the table and picked up his history book. Skulker moved closer so their sides pressed against each other. Danny glared at him.

“What? I need to see the book,” Skulker said in an innocent voice.

Danny ground his teeth before turning his attention back to Kwan. They spent a few hours reviewing everything in their history book about the American Revolution. Skulker’s hand slipped from the half ghost’s shoulder, and Danny sent him glares but decided not draw Kwan’s attention to it. By the time Danny and Kwan were coming to an end of their session, Skulker’s hand rested on the half ghost’s hip, making him squirm uncomfortably.

“Okay. I think I know everything I need to write the paper,” Kwan said as he stretched his arms over his head.

“I think I need to fix some things in my paper,” Danny said, standing and finally getting away from Skulker.

Kwan put his things back into his book bag as Danny threw away the empty soda cans and the bag of chips. Danny walked Kwan to the front door, and they said their goodbyes. When he returned to the front room, Danny paused upon seeing Skulker still sitting on the couch.

“Get out, Skulker,” Danny ordered, pointing toward the door.

“Why? I haven’t tried forcing myself upon you, have I?” Skulker asked as he stood and walked to Danny.

“That doesn’t mean you won’t.” Danny crossed his arms over his chest, narrowing his eyes at the ghost.

Skulker sighed as he walked past the half ghost toward the front door. “I haven’t given up yet. In time, you’ll realize the truth.” Then Skulker left the house.

Danny blinked at the door, wondering what just happened. Skulker acted differently than he had in the school’s basement. _Why?_ Danny wondered. _Does he think he can change the way I feel about him or something?_ Danny shook his head as he walked to the kitchen to see if dinner was ready.


	6. Chapter 6

“I told you he would choose the Phantom of the Opera costume,” Tucker said as they walked into the gym at Nosferatu High School. Danny rolled his eyes behind the plain white mask. Tucker came as Captain Hook from Peter Pan. Sam dressed as what she called a Gothic Tinkerbell but was obviously an excuse to wear all black and still be a character from Peter Pan to match with Tucker.

“You don’t have to stay with me,” Danny said, pushing the couple into the crowd of dancing people. “You go off and have fun. I’ll just, um… mingle?”

Tucker and Sam stared at Danny before they shrugged and joined everyone else that was dancing. Once they were out of sight, Danny slipped out the door into the hallway. His heart pounded faster at the thought of meeting Speedstar in person. He scanned the hall for the other man. He found two men walking toward the gym’s entrance. One man dressed as a pirate while the other man dressed in a costume that looked like Neo from the Matrix.

“So you’re dumping me because a girl asked you out?” Neo asked, sounding upset.

“I’m sorry if you thought this,” the pirate said, gesturing between them, “meant something. You were just convenient for me.”

“Convenient?” Neo growled in rage and struggled to restrain the urge to punch the pirate.

“Yes, I wanted sex, and you gave it to me.” The pirate patted Neo on the back before walking to the gym’s entrance. Neo glared at the pirate until he disappeared into the gym. He noticed Danny standing by the entrance and walked over to him.

“RavenPhan?” Neo asked, and Danny nodded.

“So you’re Speedstar?” Danny inquired, his heart beating faster in excitement.

“Yeah. Sorry about that little scene back there.” Speedstar leaned against the wall beside Danny and sighed. “I told my boyfriend I was going to meet you here, and he said he didn’t care because he was dumping me.” Speedstar ran a hand through his blond hair, pulling at the greased back locks, before dropping his arm again. “I knew he was still interested in girls. I just didn’t think he would dump me as soon as one asked him out.”

“What an asshole!” Danny slammed his fist into the wall at his side, feeling hatred for the pirate rise in him. How could he dump someone like Speedstar? Danny couldn’t understand what the pirate was thinking.

“Ah, don’t worry about it.” Speedstar forced a smile onto his face.

“But he used you!” Danny frowned and wondered why the other man was so laid back about that fact.

“It’s not the first time,” Speedstar mumbled. Danny raised his brow in confusion, but the man didn’t say anything more about it. “Why don’t I introduce you to some of the other guys at this school? Some who won’t use like that guy.”

Danny frowned, dropping his gaze to the floor. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I don’t really feel like meeting any of them right now.” He glanced at the other man. “Do you want to talk about the break up?”

“I really don’t,” Speedstar replied. They stood, listening to the music blaring from the gym. “You didn’t come online again after Wednesday.”

“Oh, I was busy with homework and other stuff.” Memories of the previous day came rushing back to the front of Danny’s mind. “Bob came over to my house yesterday,” he muttered.

“You let him into your house?” Speedstar turned to Danny, his eyes widening behind his black mask, as worry for the other man built up inside him. “I thought I told you to avoid him.”

“Trust me. I want to avoid this guy. I had another friend over, and Bob just popped up out of nowhere and decided to join us.” Danny slid down the wall, drawing his knees to his chest. Speedstar joined him on the floor.

“He didn’t try anything, did he?”

“Not really. He just sat close to me with his arm around my waist, but he didn’t try to do anything more. Even after my friend left, he didn’t try anything. For some reason, he thinks we’re made for each other.” Danny shuddered then sighed. “I don’t know what to do.”

“There’s always a restraining order,” Speedstar suggested.

A smile tugged at Danny’s lips, but he knew a restraining order was useless against a ghost. Speedstar sighed, shifting his position and moving a little closer to the other man. When their fingers touched, Danny tensed as he felt a tingle run up his arm. He turned to the man, their eyes meeting, and he swore his heart skipped a beat. His mouth opened to say something, but a blue wisp escaped instead of words.

“Um, do you know where the bathroom is?” Danny asked, feeling like an idiot.

“Down the hall,” Speedstar said, pointing the way, “turn left. It’s the first door on the right.”

“Thanks.” Danny climbed to his feet and walked quickly down the hallway.

As soon as he turned the corner, he turned on the Fenton Ghost Cloak and then switched to ghost form. Turning invisible, he flew into the gym where he could sense the other ghost. Danny expected to find Skulker crashing the party, but instead, he found the Dragon Ghost causing havoc and sending everyone into a screaming panic.

“I want to go to the ball,” the Dragon roared and shot flames from its mouth.

“I’m afraid I’ll – oh crap!” Danny’s eyes widened when the ghost hunter appeared. While distracted, the Dragon Ghost’s flame knocked Danny out of the air, and he fell among the terrified crowd.

Everyone around him had their attention on the Dragon Ghost, so no one saw him switch back to human form. Danny clicked the bottom two buttons to turn off the Fenton Ghost Cloak. Then he turned his gaze to the battle above and watched the Ahura fight the Dragon until a hand grabbed his own and started dragging him toward the exit of the gym.

“Let go of me!” Danny shouted over the noise, trying to tug his hand from the other person’s hold.

“The ghost hunter could have seen you,” Skulker growled. He released Danny’s hand once they were alone outside the gym.

“Somehow I knew you would come here.” Danny glared at the ghost who hadn’t bothered to wear a costume.

“You thought I was the one attacking those people in the gym, didn’t you?” Skulker smirked when Danny sputtered in protest though they both knew the statement was correct. “I only came because I thought I might get a dance from you.” He placed his hands to Danny’s hips, pulling him closer.

“Skulker! Let go!” Danny pushed away, breaking free from the ghost’s hold.

“Why do you resist it so much?” Skulker questioned, disappointment flashing in his eyes.

“Because I’m never going to fall in love with you,” Danny answered with a glare. “I want you to leave me alone!” He turned around and walked back into the gym to find Tucker and Sam.

Skulker watched Danny leave, frowning and sulking. He wasn’t even getting through to the half ghost. Danny seemed to get angrier and angrier every time Skulker approached him.

“Do you want to make a wish?” a woman whispered into Skulker’s ear.

“A wish from you, Desiree? I would have to be a fool,” Skulker replied, ripping his gaze from the gym’s entrance to stare at the other ghost.

“I promise no mishaps. The spell will be perfect.” Desiree gave him a sincere, innocent look, ruined only by the smirk on her face.

“There’s an ‘if,’ isn’t there?” Skulker crossed his arms over his chest as he frowned.

“If you give me a human body as well,” Desiree said. “Why should you get to be the only one to walk with the living again?” She pouted, giving Skulker her best pleading look.

Skulker sighed, his gaze returning to the door to the gym. “Fine. I wish Danny was in love with me.”

“Granted,” Desiree said with a flick of her wrist; green mist wisped off her fingers, floating toward the gym. “The spell will take affect the next time he sees you.”

“I’ll give you the device when it’s finished. You better go. There’s a ghost hunter in the next room.”

Desiree nodded before disappearing through the wall behind the other ghost. Skulker sighed, brow creasing with worry as his gaze remained on the door. Part of him said he made a big mistake while the other part couldn’t wait for the next time he saw the young half ghost.


	7. Chapter 7

“Hey, hey, Fenton, my man! I got a B on my history paper,” Kwan said, showing his grade to the shorter man.

“That’s awesome, Kwan!” Danny forced a grin onto his face.

Kwan’s excitement slowly crumpled as he noticed the other man’s false enthusiasm. “Are you all right, man? You seem a bit down.” Kwan’s brow creased with worry for his tutor and friend.

“It’s nothing,” Danny mumbled with a shake of his head. He didn’t really feel like talking about it. But the look on Kwan’s face broke his resolve in an instant. How could he keep secrets from Kwan when the other man thought of him as such a good friend? Danny sighed, leaning back against the lockers lining the wall. “I went to this dance for Halloween, and I met someone there. But while we were talking, I had to go to the bathroom. When I came back, he was gone. Now I’m a little worried about what he thought of me after meeting me in person.”

“Bummer,” Kwan mumbled, nodding his head in understanding. He played through the other man’s words again, and his head snapped toward Danny as his eyes widened. “You said him!” He pointed at his friend.

Danny’s body went rigid with fear. His mouth opened and closed in a rather good impression of a fish. He hadn’t meant to give away the gender of who he met at the dance.

“Well, well, Fenton, I never would have thought you swung that way,” Kwan said as a grin stretched upon his face. “Yet oddly, I can see you as gay.”

“You’re… not freaking out about it.” Danny blinked, wondering if he just stepped into the Twilight Zone. He expected a bigger reaction than that, maybe some yelling and spreading of his sexuality around the school to utterly embarrass him.

“No way,” Kwan said, rolling his eyes like homosexuality wasn’t a big deal. “Hey, I know this guy who’s gay. If it doesn’t work out with that guy from the dance, I could hook you two up.”

“Um, as nice an offer as that is,” Danny said shaking his head as his brow wrinkled in uncertainty.

“Oh come on, Fenton! You two could make a cute couple.” Kwan frowned when the uncertain look remained on Danny’s face. He sighed in disappointment. “All right, fine. I won’t hook you up with a really hot guy.”

“Saying he’s hot isn’t enough to make me interested in going on a blind date with this guy,” Danny stated though a part of his mind was curious to know who else Kwan knew that was gay. He eyed his friend suspiciously. “This hot guy wouldn’t be you, would it?”

“Oh, so you think I’m hot?” Kwan nudged Danny in the ribs as he smirked. “I’m flattered, but I was thinking of someone else.” He couldn’t totally deny that the thought hadn’t crossed his mind. Danny was fairly attractive. But he had someone else on his mind. “Do your buds know about it?” he asked, deciding to put the topic of blind dates behind them.

“Um, no, they don’t. Could you not say anything to anyone about this? I don’t think they would be happy to find out I told you before them.” Danny winced at that thought. _Why didn’t he just tell them before hand?_

“What about that guy who joined our tutor session last Friday?” Kwan's eyes narrowed suspiciously, recalling how that Johnny guy had stared at Danny and put his arm around him.

“Skulker? No, no, there’s absolutely nothing between us.” Danny almost laughed at the idea of him dating the ghost, missing the quick flash of relief on the other man’s face. He really couldn’t understand how Skulker got the idea that they were “meant to be” stuck in his head. And when had his obsession with hunting Danny turned into this absurd infatuation?

“Well, he’s kind of heading toward us right now,” Kwan said as he stared at the brunet walking down the hallway.

“Man, do I ever get a break?” Danny groaned, turning to glare at the ghost. The moment his eyes met with Skulker’s eyes, a strange pulse surged through his body. Danny held a hand to his head, shaking it in an attempt to rid the strange thoughts invading his mind. “Uh, Kwan, can we talk later?”

“Yeah, sure,” Kwan mumbled as he gave Danny a worried look. He turned his gaze toward Skulker who stopped in front of Danny, and he hesitated a moment before walking away.

“Ghost boy,” Skulker said, waiting to see if Desiree’s spell worked.

Danny lifted his head to meet the ghost's eyes. The anger usually in his blue eyes faded as another emotion overwhelmed the half ghost. In his mind, Danny knew something was wrong as his heart beat a touch faster. His face felt flushed as he stared at the ghost, wondering why he never noticed how beautiful those green eyes were. Closing the distance between them, Skulker reached up and ran a hand through the other man's hair. A nervous flutter raced through him, making Danny's breath catch as his eyes slipped shut at the ghost's touch. Skulker leaned forward slowly until he barely brushed his lips over Danny's lips.

"What have you do to me?" Danny whispered as the last logical thoughts fled his mind. His eyes opened to meet with Skulker's gaze. Danny found his head filled with thoughts of Skulker and things he wanted to do with the ghost in his human form. Being so close to Skulker made Danny shiver, the desire and heat building inside him. "Kiss me?"

Skulker grinned at the request and the pleading look in Danny's eyes. Wrapping an arm about Danny's waist, he pulled the half ghost flushed against him as their lips met in a rougher kiss. Danny didn't argue or resist, instead returning the kiss with as much passion as Skulker put into it.

_Why didn’t I think of this earlier?_ Skulker wondered as they parted for breath, though their lips still brushed each other. He hadn't expected the wish to work this well. When he stared into Danny's eyes, he could see the love he wanted to make the half ghost feel for him.

“Fenton!” someone shouted, ruining the moment. “You should be in class right now!” Danny stared in confusion at the man approaching them, like the words were completely foreign to him. The vice-principal stomped over to the pair and forced them apart from one another. “I don’t know who you are, but you should be class as well.” Lancer grabbed Danny’s arm and dragged him down the hallway toward his classroom.

Danny stared back at Skulker while Lancer pulled him along. He grinned when he caught Skulker's eye, and a soft pink tinged his cheeks. After watching the half ghost vanish into one of the classrooms, Skulker smirked in satisfaction. He knew that the spell worked and Danny was in love with him. He finally captured the half ghost for his own. 

“So how did it go?” Desiree questioned, appearing behind Skulker in the hallway.

“It worked perfectly,” Skulker answered as he turned to grin at the female ghost. “And here’s what you wanted.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring. “It’ll hold a human form up to twenty-four hours. After that, you’ll have to wait in ghost form for an hour for it to recharge.”

Desiree plucked the ring from Skulker’s hand and slipped it onto her finger. A ring of light ran up her body, switching her ghostly appearance to a human form. Desiree patted her body down, marveling at the firmness of a physical body.

“Have fun with your lover boy! I’m going to live it up in this body.” Desiree walked down the hallway, unable to wipe the smile from her face.

 

"Take your seat, Mr. Fenton," Lancer order after shoving his student into the classroom.

Danny hardly noticed the order as he walked in a daze to his usual seat beside Tucker. He sighed as he dropped into his seat, staring into space as the memory of that kiss lingered in his mind.

“Danny, what’s up? Why were you so late to class?” Tucker whispered over the aisle separating their desks.

“Falling in love with the most wonderful guy in the world,” Danny replied distractedly as he sighed happily.

The words took a moment to sink in. “What?” Tucker’s eyes widened at his best friend, and he almost thought his eyes would pop out of their sockets. “Did you say guy? As in…?”

“Yes, I’m gay,” Danny growled, shooting a glare at his friend. “I would have told you sooner, but I was afraid you would be an ass about it.”

“What is your problem? You don’t have to get so angry.” Tucker turned away from his friend, upset that Danny didn’t trust their friendship. When he caught Lancer glare in their direction, Tucker didn’t say more.

The period passed slower than a slug crawling over the floor as Danny watched the clock, waiting for it to end. Once it finally did, he headed toward the exit. Tucker caught up with him as they walked toward the cafeteria for lunch.

“Why did you think I would freak out just because you’re gay?” Tucker demanded, making Danny freeze. His friend turned and stared at Tucker with wide eyes.

“How did you know I’m gay?” Danny’s expression was a mixture of wanting to run away in embarrassment and wanting to murder the person who spilled his secret.

“You told me. In English,” Tucker replied, his brow knitting in confusion. “Don’t you remember? It wasn't even, like, an hour ago when you told me.”

“I-” Danny said and frowned. “We were in English?”

“Danny, are you feeling all right?”

“I - I don’t know.” Danny put a hand to head, rubbing his temple with his thumb. “I remember talking to Kwan, and then there’s this blank.” He glanced back up to Tucker. “Did something happen that I should know about?” 

“Well, you were late for class, and you said you were, and I quote, falling in love with the most wonderful guy in the world,” Tucker answered, growing worried when Danny’s face paled.

“Falling in love? With who?” When Tucker shrugged, uncertain of the answer, Danny felt a panic attack coming on as he tried to force the memories of his blackout back to the front of his mind, but nothing came. He couldn’t recall anything after talking with Kwan, and that scared him.

“Danny, calm down!” Tucker shouted as his friend began to hyperventilate.

“Why can’t I remember what happened?” Danny stared into Tucker’s eyes, hoping his friend had the answer.

But Tucker looked as confused as his friend felt. Danny turned away from the cafeteria and ran down the hall. Tucker called out to him, but the other man didn’t pay attention to him. He caught up with Kwan as he entered his next class.

“Kwan, can I ask you something?” Danny questioned, following the football jock into the classroom.

“What is it?” Kwan turned around but wouldn't look at Danny. It seemed like he was upset about something.

“Um... Wait. Is this a cooking class?” Danny looked around the room and spotted Dash pulling out ingredients from cupboards. “Dash, takes a cooking class?” His eyes widened.

“Yeah, you should try his German chocolate cake,” Kwan said, excitement returning to his eyes as though whatever had him upset had completely vanished from his mind.

“Um, right. Anyway, the question. Did something happen while we were talking earlier?” Danny frowned when the jock’s expression changed back to being upset.

“Well, that guy, um... I think you called him Skulker came and you asked me to leave,” Kwan explained.

“Skulker?” Danny’s voice cracked as he prayed that wasn’t the person he told Tucker he was falling in love with during English.

“Yeah, I thought his name was Johnny,” Kwan replied in confusion. “You said there was nothing between you, but you two were kissing last I looked. Why did you lie to me like that?” He frowned, looking hurt.

Danny collapsed onto a stool at one of the stations in the cooking classroom and buried his head in his hands, feeling both anger and embarrassment. Who else saw him kissing Skulker? What possessed him to do such a thing? He was going to kill Skulker for whatever the ghost did to him.

“What is Fenton doing here?” Dash asked Kwan when he came over to join his fellow football jock.

“Freaking out, I believe,” Kwan replied. He saw the smirk crossing Dash’s face and punched him in the arm. “Don’t be mean to him.” Dash rubbed his arm, grumbling, as he walked back to his own cooking station. He glanced back to the shorter man and frowned when he saw Danny bang his head on the counter.


	8. Chapter 8

“Danny, where have you been?” Sam questioned when she and Tucker found their friend leaning against the lockers in the hallway. Danny had a strange, distant look in his eyes and didn’t seem to hear what Sam had said. “Why weren’t you at lunch or in class?”

“You look a little pale,” Tucker said, snapping his fingers before his friend’s face. Danny blinked and turned his gaze toward his friends.

“Sorry. I was thinking,” Danny mumbled. Ever since Kwan told him he kissed Skulker, he had felt disoriented about everything. It was like someone had him on a string, bending him to their will, and he no longer had control over what was happening around him. Nothing made sense anymore, and it scared him.

“You had us worried that something happened to you,” Tucker said with an upset look on his face.

“So,” Sam said, smirking as she nudged Danny in the ribs with her elbow. “Rumor has it you admitted you were gay.” Danny turned around and slammed his head against the locker. “What’s wrong, Danny?” The worried look returned to Sam’s eyes.

“I found out who I said I was falling in love with, apparently,” Danny mumbled and banged his head on the locker a few more times.

“What?” Sam asked in utter confusion.

“Who?” Tucker inquired with curiosity dancing in his eyes.

“It-” Danny said before a wisp of blue mist escaped his open mouth. “Sorry, guys, but I have to go take care of a ghost.” He ran off down the hallway before Tucker and Sam could say anything to stop him.

Once he found an empty hallway, checking twice to be safe, Danny flipped on the Fenton Ghost Cloak and then switched to ghost form. He searched through the school until he found the ghost alone in one of the classrooms. The ghost appeared to be the same age as Danny. It was male, though he had slight feminine curves. He stared at Danny with sorrowful red eyes while he sat on one of the desks.

“Please don’t make me go back there,” the ghost pleaded, and Danny wondered if ghosts could actually cry because this ghost seemed to be on the verge of breaking down in tears.

“You can’t stay here,” Danny said as he walked over to the ghost. “It’s not safe with the new ghost hunter around.”

“But the other ghosts pick on me!” the ghost complained, sniffling and wiping his eyes with the back of one hand. “It’s because I’m weak. Being dead is exactly like being alive. I hate it! I just want to be somewhere alone where no one will hurt me anymore.”

Danny sighed, but he couldn't understand why the ghost would turn up here at the high school if he wanted to be alone. “I’ll try to help you find a place, okay? But you have to go back to the Ghost Zone.”

Danny reached for the Fenton Thermos when a stream of white light shot at them. The two of them leaped away before the blast hit the desk and destroyed it, leaving only a smoking pile of ash. Danny turned to look for the ghost hunter but saw him nowhere. Suddenly a hand wrapped around his throat then threw him into the wall. Danny gasped; the air forced from his lungs when he hit the wall, and he started to fall. Then the hand was around his throat again, holding him pinned to the wall. Danny went intangible but couldn’t phase through the ghost hunter’s hold.

“I can’t escape,” Danny whispered as his eyes grew wide in fear. He could almost hear the ghost hunter smirk beneath his mask.

“Specially designed gloves,” Ahura said, giving Danny’s throat a little squeeze and watching how the half ghost’s face contorted in pain. “Once I grab hold of a ghost, its ability to phase through things becomes useless.” Panic rose in Danny as he struggled to free himself from the ghost hunter’s hold.

“D-don’t hurt him!” the ghost shouted, concentrating on making a ball of ectoplasm to throw at the ghost hunter. Ahura laughed when he turned and saw the ball fizzle into a small red wisp. A whimper escaped the ghost as the tearful look returned to his face.

While Ahura was distracted, Danny took the opportunity to attack. He placed a hand on Ahura’s chest, then he released a small blast. It wasn’t enough to really hurt the hunter, but it was enough to make him let go of the half ghost so he could escape. As soon as the hand released his throat, Danny shot through the air and grabbed the other ghost before making a quick exit from the room. When they reached the roof, Danny paused and let the ghost go.

“See what I mean about it being dangerous here?” Danny sighed as he uncapped the Fenton Thermos. “So until I get you safely to my house, please let me put you in here.”

“A-All right,” the ghost mumbled, eying the Thermos with uncertainty. A white stream shot out from the Thermos and pulled the ghost inside. Afterward, Danny put the cap back on before he flew back to the ground. When he landed, Danny flipped off the Ghost Cloak and then switched back to human form.

“Fenton!”

The sudden shout made Danny jump, and he almost dropped the Thermos. He turned to see Kwan peeking around the corner of the school building and waving a hand in a gesture of “come here.” After stuffing the Thermos into his book bag, Danny jogged toward the other man.

“Hey, Kwan,” Danny greeted with a smile.

“How’re you doing?” Kwan asked; his face set with worry. “You seemed pretty freaked out when I last saw you, so I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Danny said, nodding his head. “As disturbing as finding out that I kissed Skulker is, and by the way, ew, I think I’ll live.”

Kwan looked relieved to hear that. “I have a question though, well actually more than one, but first I have to ask. Why are you calling him Skulker? I thought his name was Johnny.”

“Oh,” Danny replied and laughed in nervousness. “It’s just this weird nickname we came up with.”

“I see,” Kwan mumbled, though he didn’t look convinced. “So if there’s nothing between you, why did you kiss him? I know a much better guy you could hook up with.”

“I don’t know why I kissed him!” Danny shouted, growing frustrated again. “I don’t even remember seeing Sk- Johnny. And stop trying to hook me up with your friend. I already have someone in mind.”

“Oh, that masquerade guy,” Kwan muttered, lips pursing in dislike for this masked man. “How can you even be sure you’ll see him again? And you don’t even know what he looks like. He could be hideously ugly.”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with being hot.” Danny frowned. “When I talk to him over the net, I feel like he really understands me. It feels like we’ve known each other for years. I didn’t even need to meet him before knowing I liked him and wanted to become more than friends.” He glanced at Kwan and saw the disappointment on the jock’s face. “You really wanted to set me up with your friend, huh?”

“I just think you guys would be a good couple,” Kwan answered, the frown remaining on his face. “You would be really cute together.”

“Oh fine!” Danny exclaimed with an exasperated sigh. “If things don’t work out with the guy I like, I’ll give your friend a try.” The happy look on the jock’s face made Danny smile, though he hoped things would work out with Speedstar.

“Some of the football guys and I are going to the mall to hang out. Do you want to come?”

“Sorry. I can’t. I have some things to do at home,” Danny answered, feeling bad when Kwan’s expression fell. “Maybe another time though.”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Kwan waved before walking off to find his teammates. Danny sighed as he turned and began his walk home.


	9. Chapter 9

“All right,” Danny said as he sighed tiredly. “In you go.” He popped the cap off the Fenton Thermos to let the ghost out so he could go back into the Ghost Zone. The ghost flew from the Thermos but paused before the Portal. He turned back to Danny with sorrow in his red eyes.

“Do I really have to go back in there?” the ghost asked, brow knitting with worry.

“Yeah,” Danny answered with a small nod. The fearful expression on the ghost’s face made Danny feel like a bad person for forcing the ghost to return where it would most likely be tormented by other ghosts. The ghost sighed in a depressed manner, his narrow shoulders drooping.

“Thanks for saving me from that ghost hunter,” the ghost mumbled, though he didn’t sound all that happy.

“Before you go,” Danny said, making the ghost pause. “What’s your name?”

“My name?” The ghost frowned, turning his head away. “It’s Abner.”

“Bye, Abner,” Danny said and waved to the ghost as he passed through the Portal.

“Danny, what are you doing down here?” Maddie asked when she spotted her son standing before the Fenton Ghost Portal.

“Oh, just sending another ghost back into the Ghost Zone,” Danny answered and smiled at his mother. “And now I can look forward to an afterlife of being teased.”

“Being teased?” A concerned look spread onto his mother’s face. “Is everything all right in school?”

“Oh, it’s fine.” Danny waved off the concern like being teased didn’t bug him. “I’ve got some homework to do now.” He jogged past his mother and up the stairs out of the laboratory. When he reached his room, he dropped into the chair at his computer, deciding to check his e-mail before doing any of his homework. Before he could bring up his web browser, a familiar ring echoed in his room as someone instant messaged him.

**Speedstar** : I haven’t seen you online since the dance.  
 **RavenPhan** : Sorry. been busy.  
 **Speedstar** : Was meeting me a mistake?  
 **RavenPhan** : A mistake? I didn’t think it was a mistake. But I didn’t see u after I came back from the bathroom. I thought maybe u didn’t like me.  
 **Speedstar** : Sorry about that. got called away on some business.  
 **RavenPhan** : Oh.

Danny chewed on his lip, not sure what else to say. Speedstar was now available, but he was afraid to ask the other man out, thinking it might be too soon.

**Speedstar** : Has “Bob” been giving u anymore trouble?  
 **RavenPhan** : Please don’t bring him up! Today was probably the worst day of my life.  
 **Speedstar** : And u don’t want to talk about?  
 **RavenPhan** : I just want 2 put it behind me and forget about it.

Speedstar remained silent for a little while, and Danny feared he had said something wrong.

**Speedstar** : Our time got cut short last time. Do u want 2 meet up again?

Danny’s mouth dropped open as he gaped at the computer screen. Speedstar was asking to meet him again? A wave of giddiness washed over him, and he typed his reply.

**RavenPhan** : When do you want to meet?  
 **Speedstar** : We could meet 2night if you aren’t busy.  
 **RavenPhan** : I’m free tonight.  
 **Speedstar** : Ok. We can meet in the park near the mall. The fountain. 7 sound good?  
 **RavenPhan** : Yeah! How will I know it’s u?  
 **Speedstar** : Hmm… Good question. How about we wear the masks from the Masquerade?  
 **RavenPhan** : Sounds good. I’ll see you there!  
 **Speedstar** : See ya!  
 _ **Speedstar** has signed off_.

Danny jumped out of his chair, throwing his hands into the air, and gave a cheer. He danced around the room in excitement. Then he froze when he realized he should get dressed in something better than what he currently wore. Rushing over to his closet, he threw open the door and searched through all his clothes to find something nice but wouldn’t seem like he was trying too hard to impress the other man.

In the end, he came out of the closet with a pair of dressy black slacks and a long-sleeved white shirt with black splatters covering the front and back. The shirt hugged his body a little too tight, but it was one of the few nice shirts that he had. He found his Phantom of the Opera mask under a few dirty clothes on one of his bookshelves. When he glanced at his clock, he groaned, noticing that he still had another two hours to wait. He sat down at his computer again and started his homework.

When seven o’clock rolled around, rather slowly, Danny grabbed his mask before he raced down the stairs. He shouted to his parents that he was meeting his friends to hang out for a little while and then jogged out the door. Once he reached the park, Danny slipped on his mask and walked to where the fountain was located. He found the area empty, so he sat on a bench and waited while watching the flow of water.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” a man said, making Danny snap his head around to see another masked man walking up to him. “I didn’t keep you waiting long, did I?”

“No, not at all,” Danny replied and grinned as the man sat beside him. He became nervous, his palms growing sweaty. His mind suddenly went blank when he tried to think of something to say.

“I know this is against the rules,” Speedstar said, clearing his throat. “But I was wondering if it would be all right with you if we revealed our real identities to each other.”

“Um, I,” Danny stuttered. _Maybe he really does want to date me!_ he thought excitedly. “I don’t mind at all.” His voice came out rather softly, and the other man had to lean in closer to hear him.

“Okay. Then let’s remove our masks.”

Speedstar reached up to his mask, and Danny hesitantly copied his actions. Danny felt so nervous. He was finally going to find out who Speedstar really was! They counted to three out loud before they ripped off their masks. Danny’s mouth hung open, his eyes growing wide, as he stared at the man before him.

“Dash!” Danny shouted. His mouth worked up and down, but he couldn’t get any other words out.

“Fenton!” Dash growled, throwing his mask to the ground. He grabbed the shorter man by the front of the shirt, drawing him up close. “If you tell anyone about this, I’ll kill you.”

“Like I would want anyone to know about this,” Danny yelled back. He tore Dash’s hands from his shirt as he stood. “Of all the guys in Amity Park, why did you have to be Speedstar?”

“I should have known you were gay,” Dash muttered, standing up as well.

“You’re such an ass! I can’t believe I felt sorry for you when that guy dumped you.” Danny shot a glare at the jock, but inside his heart was breaking into a million pieces. His little delusion of finally meeting the man of his dreams shattered all because Speedstar was really Dash.

“Whatever. I’m out of here.” Dash shoved the man out of his way as he walked back to the exit of the park.

Danny stared after the jock until he disappeared into the darkened park. Then he turned around and ran for his house. When he arrived home, he ran up the stairs to his room and slammed the door shut before collapsing onto his bed. He buried his face into his pillow, trying to hold back the tears that wanted to spill out.

“Danny?” Maddie called as she knocked on her son’s door. “Is everything all right?”

“I’m fine!” Danny shouted, not wanting to explain to his mother that he was gay.

“You don’t sound fine.”

“I don’t want to talk about it!” Danny climbed off his bed, walking to the door and locking it to keep his mother from entering. Then he flopped back on his bed again. He stared at the ceiling as the tears burned at the edges of his eyes. They finally spilled over, pouring down the sides of his face and dampening the pillow beneath his head. He rolled over onto his stomach and once again buried his face into the pillow to muffle his sobs.


	10. Chapter 10

“Danny, you seem a bit out of it,” Sam commented while they walked through the hallways of Casper High on their way to the cafeteria. The man had spaced out quite a few times during class. His eyes were red and puffy like he had spent the whole night crying. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Danny answered with a slight growl in his voice. “And I wish everyone would stop asking me if I was all right.” He picked up his pace, walking faster than his friends. He turned the corner, and his face met with an open door, causing him to stumble back and fall to the floor. Holding his face in his hands, he glanced up through his fingers to find Dash standing there, sneering down at him.

Dash didn’t say anything. He simply stepped over the fallen man, kicking him in the back as he passed, and continued on his way down the hall. Sam and Tucker glared after the jock as they helped their friend back to his feet.

“Dash is such a jerk,” Sam grumbled in anger.

Danny ignored Sam’s comment and walked off in a huff, going the opposite direction of the jock. One look at Dash made Danny remember how he had felt toward Speedstar, and he got confused about his feelings. Dash was always a jerk toward him, but when he was Speedstar, he had been so different. Danny pulled at his hair in frustration. Why did Speedstar have to be Dash?

“Hmm, that’s odd,” a woman said, making Danny freeze. Where had he heard that voice before? “Try another one.” Danny jogged down the hall to the open door to one of the empty classrooms and ran inside to find Paulina sitting on one of the desks while another girl with long black hair stood before her.

“Desiree!” Danny growled, his eyes narrowing at the ghost. Then his eyes widened when he realized Desiree wasn’t a ghost. She had a real human body like Skulker!

“I know,” Desiree said as a gleeful smirk crossed her face. “Why don’t you wish for him to be a frog and then we can dissect him?”

“Ew! No way!” Paulina responded with a look of disgust at the thought of dissecting anything.

“Desiree, leave Paulina alone,” Danny shouted as he balled his hands into fists. He really couldn’t do anything with Paulina present. Going ghost would reveal his identity, and he didn’t want Paulina spreading rumors about him beating up some woman even if she was a ghost in disguise. He already had a reputation as a loser. Being a loser who beats up women would be even worse.

“You can’t order me around,” Desiree stated, the smirk refusing to leave her face.

“Maybe not, but I know one way to make you do as I say.” Danny grinned at the ghost when he noticed she flinched, realizing what the half ghost meant.

“I know!” Paulina exclaimed suddenly, drawing the attention of the other two. “Maybe the wish didn’t work because I was asking you to show me my true love and that’s, like, breaking one of the rules. So how about this: I wish only my true love could touch me, and once I find my true love, the effects of the wish will be removed?” She grinned as she bounced off the desk and clapped her hands together.

“As you-”

“Don’t you dare, Desiree!” Danny shouted, stomping over to the ghost as menacingly as possible.

“Wish so shall it be,” Desiree said, and a green mist floated from her hands to surround Paulina, who gasped when she felt a strange surge of energy run through her.

“All right. Let’s test this out!” Paulina placed a hand to Danny’s chest before he could react.

Danny felt electric shocks where her hand touched. Then he was thrown back, flying through the air until he slammed into the wall and dropped to the floor in an undignified heap.

“That’s so cool!” Paulina squealed in excitement.

“Do it again!” Desiree pushed the other woman toward the man lying on the ground and groaning in pain.

“What’s going on in here?” someone demanded, and Desiree shrank behind Paulina when she saw who stood in the door way: Skulker.

“I was just doing a little spell binding,” Desiree answered innocently. “The boy volunteered to prove that it had worked.” Skulker turned to see the man struggling to climb back to his feet.

“Desiree!” he growled angrily.

“We’ll just be leaving now.” Desiree gave a nervous laugh as she dragged Paulina out the classroom door.

Once they were gone, Skulker went to Danny’s side, lifting the man into his arms and carrying him to a desk, where he set him down. Danny gasped and held a hand to his chest as the other hand clutched the sleeve of Skulker’s shirt.

“Shit, that hurt a lot!” Danny said in a breathless whisper.

“Sorry about that, baby,” Skulker whispered as he ran a hand through the dark locks.

“Skul-” Danny growled, raising his head to glare at the ghost. When his eyes met Skulker’s, his heart skipped and his cheeks darkened with a blush as logical thought went screaming to the back of his mind where it died and remained unheard. “Ker,” he finished in a breathy voice. “You came back.” A shy smile spread onto his face, and he reached out a hand toward the ghost. His hand snaked up around Skulker's neck and drew his head down. "I thought maybe-" His smile faltered as worry faltered in his eyes. "Don't you like me?"

Skulker brushed a hand over Danny's cheek, watching the way his eyes fluttered at the touch before looking back up adoringly at him. He loved that look in the man's blue eyes, and he wanted to kiss those waiting lips. But something held him back. Skulker sighed as he dropped his hand and pulled away from Danny, ignoring the confusion and hurt that passed over the half ghost's face. "What do you feel toward me, ghost boy?"

Danny blinked at him before he blushed again and turned his gaze away with unusual shyness. "I love you," he answered softly, his heart beating faster at his admission. Then he turned his questioning gaze back to Skulker. "Don't you feel the same?"

"This is wrong," Skulker mumbled, shaking his head. It was exactly what he wanted to hear, that Danny loved him, but it wasn't real. That wasn't how Danny really felt about him. It was all a mere product of the wish. He stomped out of the room, leaving the half ghost in confusion.

"Wrong?" Danny whispered, feeling like someone had punched him in the chest. Tears welled in his eyes as a familiar pain made his chest tighten and his throat constrict, making it hard to breath. Skulker didn't love him back? Danny hugged his knees to his chest and sobbed into them as it felt like his heart was breaking again.

A pair of eyes watched the man break down, and the desire to comfort the man almost overwhelmed him. Instead, he turned away, turning his back on the half ghost, as he returned to his class.


	11. Chapter 11

“Daniel Fenton!” Lancer roared when he saw the teenager curled in a ball atop a desk in one of the empty classrooms.

Danny jumped and toppled off the desk with a loud thud and the scraping of metal on tile as the desk slid away. The chair behind it clattered when Danny slammed his head upon it. The man groaned, rubbing his throbbing skull as he climbed back onto his feet.

“What are you doing here after hours?” Lancer demanded, glaring at the youth before him until he noticed the puffy red eyes and tear stained cheeks.

“I, um,” Danny mumbled and averted his gaze. His chest squeezed painfully, but he wasn’t sure what caused the sudden surge of sorrow in him.

“Fenton, did someone hurt you?” Lancer asked, shifting into his sincere and concerned teacher mode. He couldn’t see any visible signs of abuse, but that didn’t mean the man hadn’t been hurt beneath his clothes or verbally abused.

But Danny didn’t know how to say. The ache in his body was from falling off the table, but he couldn't place why he had the strange squeezing of his chest. It did hurt seeing Dash in the hallways, but he didn’t think this pain was caused by the jock.

“Fenton?” Lancer tried again when he received no response from the teenager. Walking over, he went to lay a hand on the man’s shoulder, but Danny flinched away at the last second, avoiding contact.

“I - I should go,” Danny stuttered as he stumbled over the fallen chair on his way to the door, leaving behind a rather confused English teacher. Taking long strides, he walked quickly through the hallways as he tried to ignore the dull ache. It seemed to lessen as the moments passed, but it still confused him greatly.

“Stop running away!” The shout echoed through the hallways, making Danny freeze in his footsteps. His eyes darted around the hall, searching for the source of the voice. He gasped as a wisp of blue mist escaped him and a chill ran down his spine.

“I am the Box Ghost! Prepare-” the ghost’s statement was cut off by something similar to a squeak before he flew down the hallway, passing the teenager.

Danny groaned and turned the other way to see if the ghost hunter was present, like he thought. A shout of “shit” preceded the pain that accompanied a larger body slamming into his body. The pair fell to the floor in a heap of tangled limbs. The air rushed out of the half ghost’s lungs as he was crushed under the weight of Ahura. Danny lay dazedly on the floor as Ahura climbed onto his hands and knees, staring down at the teenager.

“Because of you, the ghost got away,” Ahura stated with a bit of growl in his voice, causing a shudder to run through Danny, who had just realized their compromising position. What if someone saw them like this?

“Sorry,” Danny muttered, his eyes narrowing at the helmet clad hunter. “It’s not like I meant to get in your way.”

“Try not to let it happen again.” Even though he sounded angry, Ahura made no attempt to climb off the teenager. Danny squirmed, feeling naked beneath the ghost hunter’s gaze despite not being able to see Ahura’s eyes behind the helmet’s visor. When they heard footsteps down the hallway, the ghost hunter finally jumped up, releasing the teenager. Then he raced off in the opposite direction of the footsteps.

Sitting up, Danny saw Lancer coming down the hallway toward him. In a panic, he leaped to his feet and dashed off, followed by Lancer’s shouts of “Fenton, get back here!” He didn’t even want to think of figuring out how to explain what had happened with the ghost hunter if Lancer had seen that, which Danny assumed he had.

Once he was a block away from school, Danny slowed down to a walk, panting heavily from the exertion. He paused and tilted his head back to stare at the late afternoon sky. A lost feeling overcame him as he stood there. And now he couldn’t even go talk to Speedstar about it because his online friend had turned out to be Dash in reality. His hands went to his hair, yanking on the dark locks. He had been so open to Dash about his feelings without even knowing it was him. There was so much the jock could use to blackmail him. He was about ready to shout out his frustrations when someone gave him a good hard shove from behind. After stumbling forward a few steps, Danny spun around to glare at the other person.

“Dash,” Danny growled heatedly through clenched teeth.

“Don’t block the sidewalk, Fentina.” Dash snickered at the angry blush staining the other man’s cheeks.

“You could walk around me instead of pushing me.” That strange squeezing sensation in his chest returned, and Danny cursed in disbelief. How could Dash of all people be affecting him this way? Dash only smirked, ramming his shoulder into the other teen’s shoulder as he passed. Danny glared at the jock’s back, silently fuming at the poor treatment just because he was dubbed a “loser” by the popular crowd.

“Beware!” the Box Ghost shouted in the half ghost’s ear, startling the poor teenager. Danny stumbled back off the sidewalk into the street. By the time he heard the shriek of brakes, it was too late.

Dash turned back when he heard the squeal of wheels followed by a sickening thud. The car remained undamaged, no dents or shattered windshield, but the teenager lay on his side a few feet before it. A sinking feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. Despite how he treated Fenton, he never would have wanted the other man to get hit by a car. He jogged over to the scene as the driver climbed out of the car.

“Oh god!” Paulina exclaimed in a shaky voice as she and Dash looked over the injured teenager. “I – He just jumped into the street without looking. I – I couldn’t stop in time. I didn’t mean to hit him!”

“Paulina, calm down!” Dash shouted, checking for any visible injury. From his experiences on the football team, he knew not to move the man. Dash spotted a few scrapes and cuts along the man’s body. What concerned him the most though was the large gash on Danny’s forehead where he had hit it on the asphalt. “Get your cell phone and call 911,” he told Paulina as he tried to remain calm.

While Paulina ran back to her car, Dash pulled out a clean handkerchief and pressed it to the cut. His hands were shaking badly, and the only thought running in his mind was “what if Fenton died like this?” He had never even thought about something like this happening. There were usually a bunch of little news stories about car accidents, but those usually involved drunk driving. No one was drunk in this situation, and Dash knew both people involved in the accident. It was all too surreal, feeling more like he was watching another news program on television rather than acknowledging it to be real.

“Is – Is he going to be all right?” Paulina questioned after calling 911. The situation terrified her. She didn’t think she could bear it if Danny died, if she killed him. Thinking about that possibility made tears spring to her eyes.

“I don’t know,” Dash answered in a whisper, shocking Paulina a little since she had never heard the jock talk in such a manner. _But I really hope he’ll be all right_ , Dash thought, scared at the idea of seeing someone he knew die.


	12. Chapter 12

Dash watched Paulina explain to the cops what happened while he listened to the cop making a phone call to Danny’s parents. After the ambulance came to pick up Danny’s body, Dash tried to convince them to let him go with Danny, but they wouldn’t allow it. He stayed behind with Paulina, waiting anxiously for the cops to finish questioning her so they could go to the hospital already. Paulina had broken down crying before the cops and the ambulance arrived, afraid she would be arrested.

“Hello,” someone said, answering the phone and drawing Dash’s attention away from Paulina. He stepped a little closer to the cop to hear the conversation better.

“Mrs. Fenton, I’ve got some bad news,” the cop said in a serious tone.

“Who are you?” Maddie asked; a little confused since she didn’t recognize the person’s voice.

“This is Officer McKinley,” he answered.

And again, the situation was weird and seemed wrong to Dash. He had only met Danny’s parents a few times before Jazz gave up and refused to tutor him again. After that, he had no reason to go to the Fenton home. But for some reason, it seemed so impersonal for a cop to tell them the news about what happened. When the cop asked for the Fenton’s phone number, Dash offered to make the call, but the cop insisted that it was procedure and he had to make the call. So Dash had no choice but to tell him their phone number, which had remained imprinted in his mind from when he would have to call Jazz about school work.

“And you have bad news to tell me?” Maddie now sounded skeptical and suspicious at the same time.

“Yes, you see, there was an accident.” The cop seemed to hesitate, taking a deep breath before continuing. “Your son was hit by a car, and he was taken to Amity Park Hospital.”

“Oh – Oh my god!” Maddie exclaimed, which was then followed by a clatter as the phone fell from her hand and landed on the floor.

Dash could hear Maddie shouting to her husband, and a horrible feeling settled in Dash’s stomach as he wondered what went through Maddie’s head when she heard the news. Before the cop hung up his cell phone, Dash heard a faint slam of a door, and he figured they had rushed out of the house without thinking of hanging up the phone. He looked over to see how Paulina was doing and noticed the cops had finished questioning her.

“What did the cops say?” Dash asked when he approached the girl.

“They said they wanted to wait to hear what Danny had to say about the accident and see how severe his injuries were,” Paulina answered and broke into sobs. “What am I going to do if they arrest me or Danny dies? My parents will be so disappointed in me. I’ve caused shame to my family’s good name!”

“I – I’m sure things will work out,” Dash said, trying to stay positive. “Maybe they’ll just suspend your license for a little while or something.” But Dash really didn’t know what would happen. “Do you want to go to the hospital now?”

“You’re so sweet trying to cheer me up,” Paulina said, sniffling as she rubbed the tears from her eyes. “I – I don’t think I want to drive right now.”

“I’ll drive instead.” Dash held out his hand, and Paulina gave him the keys to her car. Her fingers brushed his palm, causing a shock to run through the man’s arm. He put on a brave face, but Paulina noticed the flinch in his expression. She realized that meant Dash wasn’t her true love, though her thoughts were more concerned with Danny’s safety.

A tense silence filled the car ride to the hospital. Paulina bit the nail of her thumb on her left hand, and Dash could clearly see the worry in her eyes. When they arrived, Dash led the way to the front desk. The nurse told them the doctors were still taking x-rays and doing a cat-scan and other doctor things that Dash gave up trying to understand so they had to wait for the doctors to finish.

“I – I think I’m going to go get a cup of tea,” Paulina stuttered before she walked off to find the cafeteria.

Dash sighed and took a seat in the waiting area. Now that he wasn’t keeping an eye on Paulina, the accident replayed over and over again in his mind, but he couldn’t figure out why Danny had entered the street. He almost wanted to blame himself for the accident since he had been the last person to speak to Danny. But it still didn’t make any sense to him. He shook his head, refusing to believe what he had said and done to the man caused Danny to jump in front of a moving car.

“You’re the young man who came to see a, uh,” said the doctor as he approached Dash. He glanced down at the chart in his hands to find the patient’s name. “To see a Daniel Fenton, correct?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Dash answered as he stood.

“Well, the good news is there wasn’t any severe damage. His left arm has a small fracture, and he has a mild concussion, but there are no signs of head trauma,” the doctor said; his eyes focused on the chart. “I’m a bit surprised his injuries were so mild. He’s quite lucky.”

“Can – Can I see him?” Dash wasn’t sure why he felt so anxious to see the injured man, but he had this strong urge to make sure the doctor’s words were true and Danny hadn’t been killed in the accident.

“Er, you aren’t family,” the doctor replied, his brow wrinkling.

“They’re on their way now. Can’t I just see him for like a minute?” Then Dash thought, _And now I’m begging to see him? This is all because RavenPhan is really Fenton and he told me he hated being alone in the hospital, even though he wouldn’t tell me why_.

“Well, I guess I could let you in for a little while,” the doctor finally said after a long mental debate. “But only for five minutes.”

“That’s more than enough.” Dash grinned charmingly at the doctor, who proceeded to lead the jock to the room in which Danny had been placed. He thanked the doctor once they reached the door, and the older man turned back down the hallway to check on his other patients.

Inside the room, Danny had woken up mere moments before to find a ghost floating beside his bed.

“Abner? Out again,” Danny said, his voice hoarse and scratchy in his still groggy state.

“Sorry,” Abner said and whimpered in fear. “I – I had a bad feeling so I-”

“Not mad.” Danny waved his right hand a little as though to say all was okay. His left hand lay across his waist in a thick white cast. He had to think for a moment, trying to recall what happened in the accident. Thinking made his head hurt more. “Lessened blow when car hit.”

“When I saw the car coming at you, I – I had to do something!” Abner’s timid face turned to an expression of determination. “You’re the only one who’s been kind to me. I had to return the favor.”

The door to the room creaked open, and Danny told Abner to leave before someone saw him. When he turned to the door, Danny’s face was blank as the jock walked inside. They stared at each other before recognition hit Danny.

“Oh god! I really did die. And I went to hell!” Danny groaned, relaxing into the stiff pillows on the hospital bed. Somehow, he was thinking a little clearer now, though the pain stabbing into his brain had grown worse.

“Yeah, it was those Twix bars you stole when you were seven that did it,” Dash retorted with a snort and a roll of his eyes as he walked over to the bed. He allowed a small smirk to grace his face upon seeing the blush rise to the other man’s face.

“If I had known it was you, I never would have told you that,” Danny muttered and averted his gaze.

“Yeah, and you probably wouldn’t have told about those guys who got you all hot and bothered either.” Dash’s smirk became more malicious as the other man sank into the bed, his cheeks growing a darker shade of red. “So were any of those guys you described anyone I know?” For some reason, he was now oddly curious about that.

“No!” Danny shouted far too defensively to be telling the truth. He then held his head since the shouting hadn’t helped his headache very much. “Why are you even in here? Did you come to wound my pride even more?” Angry eyes pierced through Dash, though Danny hadn’t been close to the right answer.

“I was the one acting calmly after you got hit and Paulina was busy having a panic attack,” Dash shouted. He knew he acted like a jerk most of the time, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t act appropriately when the time called for it. “Look. I may ha – dislike you, but that doesn’t mean I want to witness your death.”

Danny cringed, turning his gaze down to the cast encasing his arm. He remembered the conversation he had had with Dash over the net about death. When he was eleven, Dash had seen his best friend die during a football practice because the other boy had a weak heart and it gave out from the heavy exertion the boy had been putting on it from playing sports. Then something Dash had said hit him.

“You said Paulina was there?” Danny looked up with a questioning expression.

“Yeah, she, um... She was the one who hit you,” Dash explained.

“Paulina hit me?” Danny gaped at the jock. Of all the people to hit him, it had to be Paulina. He didn’t want to think about how this would affect the non-existent relationship between them. He could imagine how freaked out the girl must have been after she hit him. He swallowed, his throat constricting to make it harder to work the wad of saliva down it. “When did everything suddenly become so complicated?”

“Wrong person to be asking that,” Dash mumbled as he turned away from Danny. “I only came in here to see that you weren’t dead.” Then he walked out the door, leaving the man alone in the silence of the sterile hospital room until his parents burst into the room, crying in relief when they saw he was alive and well though injured.


	13. Chapter 13

“We heard about what happened,” Sam said, looking at her friend with a concerned expression. They had decided to sit outside for lunch where they could talk privately. Sam’s gaze dropped to the cast surrounding Danny’s left arm before lifting it back up to meet with his eyes. “I can’t believe Paulina hit you with her car.” Her face quickly contorted into one of anger. “Shall I go give her a piece of my mind?”

“No, that’s not necessary,” Danny replied, shaking his head.

The doctors had told his parents to have him stay home for a day because of the mild concussion. The police spent most of that day taking his testimony and asking him questions about the accident for their report, so his friends weren’t able to come over and visit him. After talking to the police, he was too exhausted to speak with anyone else anyway and slept the rest of the day away. The police seemed to want to make a bigger case out of the accident, and all Danny wanted to do was put the whole event behind him. It had been more his fault than Paulina’s fault, and Danny didn’t want her to suffer because of his stupidity. Then again, he could put some of the blame on the Box Ghost for startling him so suddenly, but he couldn’t tell that part to the cops. Maybe he still had a little crush on Paulina, but Danny just couldn’t put any blame on her for what happened.

“So Paulina hits you and she gets away with it?” Sam seemed rather angry about that, and Danny wondered if it had more to do with the fact that the two women were practically mortal enemies than the fact that Paulina hit Danny with a car. Tucker tried to soothe his girlfriend’s rage by rubbing her back.

“She didn’t get away with it,” Danny replied with a bit of hostility in his voice. “In fact, the police wanted to drag this into court, but I told them I didn’t want to file charges against her. I’m the one who suddenly jumped into the street in front of her car.” Danny paused, taking a deep breath to calm himself. “Anyway, I was lucky Abner showed up to soften the impact so I didn’t get as badly hurt as I could have.”

“Who’s Abner?” Tucker questioned as his brow rose in confusion.

“Oh, I didn’t tell you about him?” Danny tilted his head to the side, trying to remember if he had or hadn’t. “I guess not. Abner’s the ghost I found the other day when that damned ghost hunter popped up again.”

“And you still have no clues about who this ghost hunter is?” Tucker’s confusion melted into worry, and Sam’s anger faded away as soon as the subject moved away from Paulina.

“Not a one,” Danny replied and leaned his head back against the brick wall of the gym. “Where did the simple days go?” he mumbled more to himself than to his friends. The question reminded him of what he last asked Dash before the jock left the hospital room. A frown settled on his face when he remembered the response: “Wrong person to be asking that.” His heart sank a little. Speedstar had been the only person he felt comfortable going to for help with anything ever since Tucker and Sam started dating. If he couldn’t speak with Speedstar, who could he talk to about his problems?

“Earth to Danny!” Tucker shouted in his ear suddenly, calling Danny out of his reverie.

“What?” Danny demanded as he shot a glare at his friend.

“You’re being paged.” Tucker turned his friend’s head around so he could see the jock standing a few feet away from the trio of friends.

“Kwan! What are you doing here?” Danny asked, his brow furrowing as he stared at the other teenager. Kwan motioned for Danny to come to him. “Er, I’ll meet with you guys later.” Danny grabbed his book bag and slung it over one shoulder before he left his friends to speak with Kwan. “So what did you want to talk to me about?” Danny asked once Kwan had led him to the empty football field. “And shouldn’t you be in class?”

“Well, yes, but I told the teacher I had to go to the bathroom,” Kwan answered, holding up the pass to prove his story. “We’re making banana nut bread.” He grinned proudly at that fact. “Anyway, Dash told me about what happened, and I wanted to come see how you were doing. I can’t believe something like this happened.” His gaze fell to the cast, and a sorrowful look entered his eyes.

“I haven’t seen Paulina since before the incident. How’s she holding up?” Danny asked, genuinely worried about the woman, and this time it had nothing to do with having a crush on her.

“She’s pretty shook up. She’s even afraid to drive now. She thinks she’s a horrible driver even though she’s really not. She’s an excellent driver. This accident’s really done a number on her confidence.”

“That’s awful!” Danny mumbled for a lack of anything better to say because he really didn’t know how to respond to that.

“But Paulina was really glad to hear you were alive,” Kwan continued. “She may act like a shallow bitch sometimes, but she was really scared that she had killed you. She broke down and cried because she thought you might have died.”

“Could you tell her I don’t blame her for the accident and I’m not mad at her about it?”

“Yeah, sure thing,” Kwan answered after he blinked, a bit shocked that Danny didn’t hold a grudge over what happened. “So what really happened? I mean, why did you jump into the street?”

“Er, well, that is, um,” Danny mumbled, glancing away as he tried to think of an excuse. “I can’t, um, really recall. It – It kind all happened too fast.”

“Ah,” Kwan responded rather lamely. He reached up and scratched the back of his head, not sure what else to say.

“Um, shouldn’t you be getting back to class?” Danny asked, breaking the silence that fell upon them.

“Oh right!” Kwan exclaimed like he only remembered about it right then. “Do you want to come try what we made in class?”

“Sure,” Danny replied with a small shrug. He followed the jock back into the school building and through the hallways to his cooking class.

The aroma of fresh banana nut bread hit Danny the moment he entered the classroom behind the other man, and it made his mouth water with anticipation. Kwan replaced the bathroom pass on its hook near the door before guiding the other man toward his station. The teacher didn’t pay much attention to Danny since she had grown used to her students inviting others into the room for a taste of the latest thing they had cooked.

“Oh, ours look really good!” Kwan grinned at his teammate when they reached the cooking station at the back of the room. He grabbed one of the knives and started slicing a loaf of bread.

“Why is he here?” Dash demanded as he glared at the injured man. Danny averted his gaze, biting the inside of his cheek.

“Calm down, Dash. I offered him a piece of our banana nut bread,” Kwan answered as he completely ignored the tension between the other two men. He finished cutting up the loaf and handed a slice to Danny. “It should be really good since Dash helped make it.”

Danny mumbled a “thank you” to Kwan before he bit into the piece of bread. Kwan was right. The bread was good. Amazingly good! Danny couldn’t believe Dash was the one who had made such delicious bread. He almost praised the jock, but the words caught in his throat, knowing Dash wouldn’t care one way or the other about whether Danny liked the bread or not. With another whisper of “thank you,” Danny quickly left the room with two pairs of eyes following his exit.

“You sure have the asshole act down,” Kwan muttered angrily to his teammate. “He was hit by a car. You could be a little nicer to him.”

“Are you saying he would want my pity?” Dash snapped back. “I’m sorry I can’t be a nice guy like you, but I’m not going to change the way I treat him simply because Paulina hit him with her car.”

“Fine. You’re right! He probably wouldn’t want to be pitied. But you don’t have to treat him like he has leprosy or something.” Kwan stabbed the knife into the wooden cutting board in his fit of anger. “Do you think just because he’s been dubbed a ‘loser’ it means he doesn’t feel things like pain and hurt every time you throw an insult at him or treat him badly? Fuck, Dash! He’s a person, and you’re treating him like shit. When are you going to grow up and realize that the stupid social cliques we’ve created aren’t going to exist once we get out into the real world?”

Dash stepped closer to his teammate, his eyes narrowing as he tried to look menacing, but it didn’t seem to work on the other jock. “If you’re so damned concerned about his welfare, why don’t you just fucking claim him as your boyfriend?” he demanded in a low, threatening whisper so no one else in the classroom could hear them.

“You are so blind sometimes, Dash,” Kwan responded, throwing his arms up in exasperation. “I don’t like Fenton in that way. And maybe if you gave it an ounce of thought, you would realize the truth about him and yourself.” He grabbed his book bag off a stool and walked toward the door as the bell rang.

Dash watched his teammate leave, grinding his teeth. His nostrils flared, and rage coursed through him. Every time he got into an argument with Kwan, it was about Fenton, and Dash was quickly growing annoyed with the debate. Kwan had only started this little fixation he had with making Dash get along with Fenton after the “loser” started tutoring him. Dash grabbed his book bag, flinging it over one should before he angrily stomped out of the classroom.


	14. Chapter 14

Danny slumped onto the top seat of the bleachers to watch the rest of the class play basketball. Because of his broken arm and the risk of making his mild concussion worse, he was excused from participating, which he didn’t mind so much since the other men tended to shove him around the court a lot. A sigh escaped him as he leaned his head back against the wall, his eyelids feeling quite heavy while exhaustion settled over him like a warm blanket.

In the hospital, Dash had been somewhat nice. At least, he hadn’t done anything to further wound Danny physically or mentally. Danny wondered if the reason Dash even bothered to see him at the hospital had anything to do with what Danny told him about his dislike for being left alone in hospitals. But it had been oddly comforting to hear that Dash didn’t want to see him die. Danny almost felt like he was talking to Speedstar again, which was why he had brought up that question. Apparently, that snapped Dash back to reality and chased him off again. Confusion beat him over the head with a two by four, making his brain hurt. He still had feelings toward Dash as Speedstar, but he hated Dash as the bully.

“Danny,” said a woman softly, drawing him out of his reverie and away from the warring emotions inside him. Danny lowered his gaze to find Paulina climbing up the bleachers. She reached the top and took a seat beside him.

“Um, this is weird,” Danny mumbled, staring at the woman as she brushed a lock of her long hair behind an ear. “You actually want to talk to me? Why?”

“Because of what happened,” Paulina said, and Danny saw her lower lip tremble like she was holding back tears. “I -God, I hit you! With a car!”

“I see you haven’t had a chance to speak with Kwan,” Danny mumbled. “I’m really not mad at you about the accident. It wasn’t your fault at all. I was stupid to step into the street at that time. I don’t want you blaming yourself for what happened.” He placed a hand on Paulina’s only to be zapped by Desiree’s spell. “Ow!”

“I hurt you again!” Paulina sobbed, burying her face in her hands.

“No, Paulina, that was my fault again.” Danny smacked his own forehead. “I forgot you made that wish. I shouldn’t have touched you.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t have made that wish like Desiree wanted. I hurt you back then too.” Paulina lifted her head, her eyes red and puffy from crying. “Ever since that wish, I keep hurting you and other people. All I wanted was to find the person who will love me, my soul mate.”

“And I’m sure you’ll find that person,” Danny said, trying to sound encouraging. “By the way, how is the wish going?”

“I actually thought that Desiree girl was a little crazy when she approached me saying she could grant my heart’s desire.” Paulina sniffled and rubbed away the tears. “I didn’t think it would actually work and then boom! You go flying across the room when I touched you. And it was just like, whoa! This girl was for real!” She took a deep breath, releasing a little laugh when she exhaled. “I’m not sure whether or not to be shocked that you actually believe this story because, really, who would? A person that grants wishes? That’s like something out of a fairy tale. But then again, your parents are ghost hunters, right? You must see a lot of crazy and bizarre things.”

“More than you would believe,” Danny said, giving a small laugh.

“The day I made the wish,” Paulina said and then dropped her gaze to her hands as they played with the hem of her fuzzy pink shirt. “You came into the room, and it seemed like you knew who Desiree was.”

“Um, yeah, we sort of had a run in before,” Danny answered, biting his lip. The conversation was moving too close to him telling her about his powers. He needed to change the topic somehow.

“You don’t seem to like her very much,” Paulina said with a frown on her pretty face.

_Sure, she pays attention to me when I’m already over my crush on her_ , Danny thought. “Let’s just say we didn’t have a very good run in and leave it at that,” he said, turning his gaze to watch the other students play basketball.

“Not an experience you want to discuss, huh?” Paulina asked and received a nod in response. “You know, you’re really not as big a loser as I thought you were.”

“Um, thanks,” Danny said, his brow wrinkling as he wondered if that meant she thought he was cool.

“I can see why Kwan likes hanging out with you,” Paulina continued like Danny hadn’t spoken. “You’re really easy to talk to. And this whole time I thought he was just using you to keep his grades up.” She laughed a little. “And you could have gotten me in a lot of trouble with that accident, but you didn’t. I’ve treated you so badly over the years. You could have made me pay for it by telling the cops that I had purposely hit or something, yet you didn’t. After the accident, I realized how mean I’ve been to people that I don’t even know. I mean, what if you had died and I never got the chance to know what a nice and understanding guy you are?”

“Paulina, I’m not angry with you at all,” Danny said, sighing in exasperation. “So please don’t blame yourself for the accident. I really don’t want you to beat yourself up over this.”

“I – I know. I just - I had to tell you, had to say something to make me feel a little better, you know,” Paulina said, stumbling over her words. “Maybe that’s selfish of me, needing to say all of that just so I can feel better.”

“It’s really okay. And I don’t think it’s selfish. Something horrible happened that you had no control over. You’re feeling guilt and regret even though you aren’t entirely to blame. It’s only natural to seek forgiveness from the one you hurt.” Danny paused, turning his head to stare at Paulina, who had little tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. “Actually, I would have thought of you as cold-hearted bitch if you didn’t care about being forgiven, if you didn’t even feel remorse. Sam tried to convince me that you were shallow and all that. I’m glad to see she was wrong about you.” He smiled at the other woman, his once long-time crush.

“I’d hug you, but, um, you know, the whole shock thing,” Paulina said, wearing a sweet smile that she rarely showed to anyone. “I just have to know though. Why aren’t you pissed at me for hitting you?”

Danny released a sigh as he leaned his head back against the wall. “I was stupid. I wasn’t paying attention because I had a lot of things on my mind. And then I got startled because I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Being the idiot I am, I stumbled back into the street where you then hit me. So it really was more my fault for being startled over nothing.”

“Thanks, Danny. For being so forgiving and understanding and everything,” Paulina said, having the urge to hug him once again. “I – I gotta get back to class now.”

“I’ll see you around.” Danny grinned, wondering if the accident would really make Paulina be nicer to him or if she would return to being the same snobby woman that Sam had pegged her as now that she had been forgiven.

“Yeah, see you.” Paulina gave a little wave before she got up and trotted down the bleachers.

Once the woman was out of sight, Danny let his smile fall, returning to his Dash dilemma. But then there was also the thing with Skulker. He hadn’t seen the other ghost recently, and that had him a little worried. The last time he had seen Skulker was when Kwan told him he saw him kissing the ghost, and Danny couldn’t even remember that happening. The man sat up straighter as a thought hit him. What if he had another one of those black outs and Skulker tried to do something to him? Danny shuddered at that thought. He really hoped that hadn’t happened. Then he remembered what happened before the accident. Lancer woke him up in an empty classroom, and Danny couldn’t recall what happened before that. Danny pinched the bridge of his nose as his head began to hurt.


	15. Chapter 15

“You look rather grumpy,” Paulina said as she sat opposite Dash at the lunch table. After the talk with Danny in the gym, she began to feel a little better about the accident. All of the built up guilt started to fade away, giving her a lighter feeling in her heart.

Dash set down the plastic fork as he raised his gaze to stare at the girl with an annoyed look in his eyes. “Kwan thinks I should start acting nice toward Fenton just because of the accident,” he grumbled and pushed his tray of food away, not really hungry anymore.

How would the rest of the school react if all of a sudden Dash started acting nice to his favorite punching bag? He had a reputation to maintain even if it meant killing the feeling growing in his heart. He missed those online conversations with RavenPhan, and every time he went online, he checked his buddy list for the other man’s screen name. Those conversations had been the only time he could freely express himself. He felt something he hadn’t felt with any of the women or men that he dated when he talked to him. Fenton wasn’t as clingy as the women, and he wasn’t as demanding as the men.

“Well,” Paulina said, looking around the cafeteria for a moment. “It’s not like he’s that horrible of a person. He might be a loser, but he’s still a really nice guy.”

“So now you’re taking his side too?” Dash demanded angrily. “What is going on with this school? He gets hit by a car and suddenly everyone has to love him.”

“No, Dash, that’s not it.” Paulina sighed, feeling a headache coming. “The only reason behind our hate toward him and his friends is because we decided they were losers. That’s pretty stupid and immature, don’t you think?”

“That’s how school works. The popular kids pick on the losers. That’s how it’s always been. Why should it change now?” Dash was fed up with this sudden change of heart. First Kwan and now Paulina? Dash couldn’t be nice to Fenton. If he was, his feelings for Fenton might grow stronger. Then he might even have to admit that those feelings toward the “loser” were of the romantic kind, though he denied that for all he was worth.

“Ever think of growing up a little, Dash?” Paulina shouted as she stood suddenly, catching the attention of the other students in the cafeteria. “How do you think you’re going to make it in the real world if you keep treating everyone like crap even if you don’t know them?”

“You and Kwan sound exactly alike,” Dash scoffed, glaring at the girl.

“I would rather sound like Kwan than continue to be an ass like you.” Paulina stomped out of the cafeteria, leaving Dash alone at the table as whispers followed her out the door. “I can’t believe he’s still acting like that,” she muttered, walking through the hallways.

“Care to make another wish,” a woman asked, causing Paulina to spin around toward the source. She found Desiree standing in a side corridor with a brunet man.

“The first wish didn’t work,” the man argued, his eyes narrowing into a hard glare.

“What are you talking about, Skulker?” Desiree asked with a hint of amusement in her voice. “He’s in love with you, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, but it’s not what I wanted,” Skulker shouted. “Your spell changed him. I didn’t want that. I just wanted to be given a chance with him.”

“So then you don’t want another wish?” Desiree asked, pretending to not understand what the man wanted.

“No! Are you even listening to me?” Skulker grabbed the woman by the arms and slammed her into the wall. “I want you to reverse the wish, remove it or whatever. Just change him back.”

“I can’t do that,” Desiree answered as her face fell. “Look. I know wishes don’t always turn out the way people expect, but don’t get angry with me because it didn’t turn out how you wanted. I can’t reverse a wish even if you made a wish asking me to do so. You could try to break the wish but don’t ask me how because I can’t give you the answer.”

“Then what the hell good are you?” Skulker shouted, looking like he was ready to beat up the woman for not being able to help him.

“Hey! Let her go!” Paulina yelled, jogging over to them. She grabbed his arm to try and push him aside, but he jerked away, taking a few steps back.

“Shit, girl! Don’t touch me while you’ve got that damn wish on you!” Skulker growled and rubbed the sore spot on his arm. He glared once more at Desiree before turning his back to the pair of women and walking down the hallway.

“Are you okay?” Paulina asked, placing a hand on the other woman’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Desiree smiled. “That was rather brave of you, standing up to him like that.” She pushed off the wall, stepping closer to the other woman. “Did you come to make another wish?”

“No, I’m still working on that first one.” Paulina laughed a little as she brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “I was passing by when I saw that jerk, and I couldn’t stand to see him treating you like that. Bullies are so immature!”

“Shall we continue with your search for true love then?” Desiree asked as she linked arms with the other woman, who sighed in response.

“I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll ever find my true love. I think I’ve touched nearly everyone in this school, and all of them were shocked.”

“You’ll find the one for you. You just need to keep looking.” She searched the hallways for any people that Paulina hadn’t tested yet. _Though I have to wonder why I even care_ , she thought. _I normally leave the person alone after they make a wish_. She glanced at Paulina. _Well, at least she’s not hideous looking. She’s quite pretty even if she wears a little too much make up. And she has a decent personality, though she seems a little different today. I thought she was more of a bully than someone who would stop another person from bullying_. Desiree rolled the thoughts around in her head before deciding to ask about it. “Did something happen while I was away?”

“Oh yeah, you haven’t been by really since I made my wish,” Paulina mumbled. “Later that day, I hit Fenton with my car.” She sighed, the horrible sensation of the bottom dropping from her stomach returning for a brief moment. “I spoke with him today, and he didn’t hate me or blame me for it. He was really nice about it. I never even gave him a chance before because of those stupid labels we give other kids. I kind of wish Dash could see Fenton for who he really is.”

“As you-” A hand clapped over her mouth, cutting off Desiree’s statement and breaking her spell.

“I didn’t mean that as an actual wish,” Paulina said. “I don’t want him to be forced to see it. It has to be natural, or things won’t turn out nicely. Like that man. He wished for someone to love him, but it didn’t come out the way he wanted.” She thought back on what she overheard the man say before continuing. “Who did he wish would love him?” Paulina asked out of curiosity.

“Oh, Danny Fenton,” Desiree answered with a snort. “He seems to have this idea ingrained in his brain that he really loves him.” She shrugged. “I can’t say if it’s true or not, but I’ve never known him to have feelings like love toward anything.”

“Wait! Fenton?” Paulina’s brow shot up to her hairline in shock. “That man, um, whatever his name was, he wished for Fenton to fall in love with him?”

“Yeah,” Desiree answered. “I knew it probably wouldn’t work out the way he wanted it to, but I suggested the wish anyway.”

“Well, I can see Fenton coming out as gay,” Paulina said, tapping her chin with a well-manicured finger. “But that guy is so totally wrong for him.”

“You think so too, huh? I don’t think there’s any way to convince Skulker that he isn’t meant for Danny. In fact, he’d probably wring my neck for even suggesting it.” Desiree laughed. “Maybe we should get Danny to hook up with someone just to show Skulker that Danny isn’t the one for him.”

Paulina thought about that suggestion. It would be a nice gesture: finding Danny a good boyfriend. Then a wicked smile formed on her face. Desiree noticed it, and it piqued her interest, wondering what was running through the other girl’s mind. Grabbing Desiree’s hand, Paulina dragged her along as she ran down the hallway with a shout of “I’ve got an idea.”


	16. Chapter 16

Dash spotted Paulina dragging her new friend, Desiree the exchange student from some unknown country, down the hallway toward Kwan. The trio talked excitedly with each other, which made Dash’s eye twitch in annoyance. He wanted to know what they were talking about, but he was still angry with Paulina and Kwan for siding with Fenton. _Fenton of all people!_ Dash thought as he turned to walk the opposite way down the hall.

Dash knocked into someone, and his arm automatically shot out and shoved the person away. He looked over to see who it was and found Fenton pressed against the lockers with a hurt expression on his face. Dash realized Danny had slammed his broken arm into the locker. He almost felt sorry until he remembered he shouldn’t care about hurting the “loser.” His hands balled into fists, trying to think of something to say, but his mind was currently blank. Sam and Tucker moved to stand between Danny and Dash as they glared at the jock.

Before any of them could trade insults, Danny turned away, pushing some other students out of his way as he headed down the hall with that hurt expression still on his face. Sam and Tucker followed behind him after giving Dash another nasty look. Muttering to himself, Dash left the school building through the first door he found, wandering around the campus as his fury raged inside him. He knew he shouldn’t feel this angry, but everything seemed to piss him off at the moment.

As he headed toward the weight room to spend his open period working out, Dash rammed his shoulder into another man by accident. The two men turned, glaring at each other, dark blue clashing with bright green. Dash bared his teeth as he growled. He recognized the brunet man only from seeing him a few times, but he knew he didn’t like this man. He remembered watching Fenton cry after an encounter with this man. Something about that made Dash hate the man. He had a distinct feeling this was the “Bob” that Fenton had mentioned during their online chats.

“Stay away from Fenton,” Dash ordered, though he couldn’t explain the sudden need to stand up for Fenton. Something in him didn’t want to see Fenton hurt again by “Bob.”

The man smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t take orders from blockheaded jocks like you.” He grinned even wider when his statement elicited a growl from the jock.

“Look. Just stay away from him.” Dash repeated again, and then quickly found himself pinned against the wall of the school.

“I’ll do whatever I want with Danny,” the man stated, locking his gaze with Dash’s eyes. “I could go screw him if I wanted, and you wouldn’t be able to stop me. Danny would be more than happy to please me in a sexual way.”

Upon hearing that statement, Dash snapped. He threw “Bob” off him and punched him in the face. “Don’t ever talk about him like that!” Dash shouted as the anger burned in him from the image the other man’s words had created within his mind. The thought of anyone touching Fenton in such a way pissed off the jock, and once again, he found he couldn’t explain the unreasonable rage inside him.

The brunet man tossed his head back, and laughter filled the air. “Oh, so are you going to fight me for his love? You’ll lose if you do. Danny and I are meant to be.”

“I don’t even like Fenton like that,” Dash growled, his nails biting into the skin of his palm. “But I can tell right now, you’re bad news. Only I get to beat up Fenton, so I’m not going to let you get your hands on him.”

“I think you’re a bit confused. You see, my intention isn’t to beat up Danny. I want to screw him into the mattress until his begging for more and screaming my name. I want to make him-” Another punch to the face cut off whatever the brunet man was about to say. “Bob” lifted his head, holding his jaw, and found Dash glaring at him with rage flashing in his eyes.

“I told you not to talk about him like that,” Dash growled through clenched teeth.

“I’ve seen the way you look at him sometimes,” the man said, snorting in disgust at the jock. “You say you don’t like him. Then why are you trying to protect him from me? I bet you really want to get Danny alone so you can do all sorts of naughty things with him.” Having grown tired of words, Dash punched the brunet man again, starting a brawl between the two of them.

 

Elsewhere, Danny entered Lancer’s office after being called out of class. He sat in the chair set before the large wooden desk. He shifted nervously under the vice-principal’s stare, wondering why he would be called down to his office. He didn’t think he had done anything to earn him a detention or anything.

“Daniel Fenton,” Lancer said as he unlaced his fingers to lay his arms flat on the desk. “I’m very concerned about you, and I want you to know that I’m here if you need to talk to someone.”

“Um, I don’t know why I’m here, sir,” Danny said, glancing around the office in uncertainty.

“Because I’m under the impression that someone has been hurting you either physically or verbally,” Lancer stated. “I don’t want to see any of my students getting hurt. So talk to me. What’s going on?”

“Nothing’s going on!” Danny snapped, wishing he could disappear without exposing his powers to the vice-principal.

Lancer sighed, raising one hand to rub his temple. “I know it’s sometimes difficult to talk about this. You fear that if you tell someone, it’ll make things worse. Trust in me though. I won’t let this person hurt you again.”

“No one hurt me. Can I leave?” Danny started to stand.

“Stay seated, Fenton!” Lancer ordered, pointing to the chair until Danny sat down again. “You aren’t leaving this office until you tell me who hurt you.”

“But no one hurt me!” Danny shouted, wishing Lancer to drop the subject already.

“I found you in an empty class room with tear streaks are your cheeks. And you’re going to tell me someone didn’t do anything to you to make you cry?”

Danny averted his gaze as he ground his teeth in frustration. He didn’t want to talk to Lancer of all people about his problems. But the vice-principal had reminded him of something. He still didn’t remember what had happened before Lancer walked into the classroom that day. He recalled entering the room before Paulina made her wish. Then she had touched him, and it had sent him into the wall. Then someone else had come in and carried him to a desk. But when he had lifted his gaze, Danny’s mind went blank.

“Does this have anything to do with Johnny Radcliff?” Lancer asked, pulling Danny back to the present.

Danny’s head shot up at the name, his eyes growing wide. “What – What would he have to do with anything?” he stuttered as he wiped sweaty palms on his pant legs.

“I caught the two of you kissing in the hallways. Is there something going on between you and this Johnny boy?” Lancer didn’t look disgusted at the idea of two men being in a relationship, which made Danny relax a little.

“No, there’s nothing going on between us,” Danny answered in a shaky voice.

“I’m not here to judge you. If you are a homosexual, that’s your choice, but it doesn’t mean you have to stay in an abusive relationship.”

“Mr. Lancer, I am not in a relationship with anyone!” Danny shouted, wondering why that idea was so hard for the vice-principal to understand. “I don’t know why I was kissing Johnny. I don’t like him in that way.”

Before either of them could speak another word, a man with red hair threw open the office door and stumbled inside, panting for breath. He pointed out the door as he said something about a “fight in front of the school” between pants.

“Great Gatsby!” Lancer shouted, jumping to his feet and racing out of the office.

Danny sighed in relief as he slouched in the chair. Lancer popped back into the office, ordering his student to remain there. Then he closed the door, and Danny heard the click of the lock. Jumping out of his seat, Danny walked to the door and tugged on it, but it refused to budge.

“He locked me in here!” Danny exclaimed, leaning his forehead against the door. “Why is he so determined to find out what’s going on with me?” He sighed. “I think it’s time to have a talk with Desiree. She must have some clue what’s going on.”

Turning intangible, Danny walked through the door to the office. The hallways of the school were empty since everyone had gone outside to watch the fight. Danny wandered around the school, looking for the female ghost disguised as a human. He found Desiree in one of the classrooms on the second level of the school. She stood near a window, gazing down at the fight taking place below her.

“I thought you might come looking for me eventually,” Desiree said, not looking over at the young half ghost.

“Then you probably also know why I’m here,” Danny said as he walked across the room to join the ghost by the window. “Did you do something to me?”

“First look down there.” Desiree pointed to where Lancer was trying to stop two men from fighting.

Sighing, Danny followed her orders, not seeing any reason not to humor the ghost. His eyes narrowed when he saw who the two men were: Dash and Skulker. “Skulker, that bastard,” Danny muttered, his hands curling into fists.

“It seems the spell doesn’t affect you unless you’re in direct contact with him,” Desiree said as she tapped her chin in thought.

“Spell? So you really did put a spell on me! Who wished for what?” Danny demanded angrily.

“It was just a simple little love spell,” Desiree answered, waving it off like it wasn’t a big deal. “I didn’t know what exactly would happen while you're under the spell or that it only went into effect when you're around Skulker.”

“Reverse it!” Danny shouted.

“I can’t do that. And this isn’t something you can just wish to be reversed. You’ll have to find a way to break it.” Desiree slipped an arm around Danny’s shoulders and turned him to look back out the window. “You know, not all ghosts are evil. Would being in love with Skulker really be that bad?”

“Yes,” Danny growled, turning a glare to the female ghost as his eyes flashed green.

“Why?” Desiree asked with her arm still around the man’s shoulders.

“Because I’m already in love with someone else!” Danny answered. A stunned look crossed his face when he realized what he had said.

“Oh,” Desiree said and seemed to become more interested in the conversation. “And who’s the lucky man who stole your heart?”

Danny glanced out the window, his eyes landing on the jock trying to get at the brunet, who looked like he was taunting the jock. “Do you really think I would tell you?” Danny threw the ghost’s arm off his shoulders. “You would probably turn him into a toad or something.” He turned away from the window and stomped out of the classroom.

Desiree watched the half ghost leave before letting her gaze drift back out the window. A smirk formed on her face as she stared at the jock. “I should go find Paulina and that friend of hers.”


	17. Chapter 17

“So Lancer locked you in his office?” Tucker asked as he talked to Danny on the phone.

“Yeah, he seems rather determined to help me with my problems,” Danny said with a sigh while he surfed the internet. “The only good news is that I had a little chat with Desiree, and she told me about Skulker’s little wish.”

After his chat with Desiree, he snuck back into Lancer’s office. Once Dash and Skulker were to detention, Lancer kept Danny there for another two hours before finally allowing him to leave and go home. Danny continuously denied any knowledge of someone abusing him in any way. Suddenly a new box popped up on his computer screen, and Danny froze when he saw who had sent it.

**Speedstar** : Is that Johnny guy the “Bob” u mentioned before?

“Earth to Danny,” Tucker shouted, trying to get his friend’s attention.

“Huh? Oh, sorry. What did you say?” Danny asked as he tore his eyes away from the instant messenger box.

“Where’d you go, man? You didn’t answer for, like, five minutes. Now, what was Skulker’s wish?”

“Sorry. I got distracted by something online. Um, Skulker’s wish, um, he wished that I’d fall in love with him.” Danny winced, waiting for his friend’s reaction.

“What? That bastard!” Tucker growled, and Danny heard him slam a fist into the wall.

Danny glanced back at the computer screen where the instant messenger box blinked like crazy with Dash’s most recent message demanding an answer to his question. He typed a quick “yes” while listening to Tucker rant about how Skulker needed to be seriously hurt for making such a wish.

“What the hell is Skulker thinking?”

“I don’t know,” Danny mumbled as he shut off his computer before Dash could send a reply. He stared at the blank screen sadly. Now that Dash knew he was RavenPhan, it was unlikely that they would continue to have those same conversations as before where they could speak openly to one another. If anything, Dash would use the opportunity to harass him in one way or another. “I’ve got some homework I need to get done. I’ll talk to you later, Tuck.”

“O-Okay. Talk to you later, Danny,” Tucker said before he hung up.

Danny set the phone back in its cradle. Standing up, he sighed, and a wisp of blue left his mouth. He started to turn around when he felt a pair of cool hands hold his head still.

“Don’t face me,” the ghost whispered, cool breath blowing over the half ghost’s exposed neck and sending an involuntary shiver down Danny’s spine.

“What are you doing here, Skulker?” Danny demanded, tempted to turn around, but he knew what would happen if he did. He was a little surprised to find the spell hadn’t been activated as soon as he was within Skulker’s presence.

“I wanted to talk to you,” Skulker answered. His hands slid down the man’s pale neck and over his back before wrapping around Danny’s waist and tugging the man against his chest. “Desiree told me that as long as our eyes don’t meet, I can get close to you like this without the spell taking affect.”

“Talk to me?” Danny snorted, but he didn’t attempt to break free from the ghost’s hold. “You expect me to believe that?”

“I know you probably won’t,” Skulker mumbled as he rested his chin on the young half ghost’s shoulder. “But that’s the truth. I just want to talk. Nothing more.”

Danny’s eyes slid shut as he leaned into the embrace, wondering if this was how it would feel to have Dash hold him. In a physical form, Skulker was about the same height and build as the jock. Skulker’s arm shifted, causing Danny’s white shirt to rise a little. He ran a hand over the now exposed flesh, relishing the little twitch of muscles under his touch. Danny shoved the ghost away, being careful not to look up into Skulker’s eyes.

“Yeah, you’re really just here to talk to me,” Danny muttered as he hugged an arm around his body, feeling rather insecure after letting the ghost touch him in such a way.

“Sorry.” Skulker stepped closer and cupped half ghost’s face. “Look. I didn’t want things to turn out like this. When I made the wish, I had no clue how it would affect you. I want the real you to fall in love with me. Tell me how I can gain your trust and love. Please!”

“First,” Danny said, pulling one of the ghost’s hands away from his face, “you can find a way to break that stupid spell you had Desiree put over me.” His lips thinned and his nostrils flared as the anger raged in him. He knew he wouldn’t fall in love with Skulker, but he wanted the spell removed.

“Are you at least going to give me a chance?” Skulker ran his free hand through the dark locks.

“I already have someone I like,” Danny answered with his eyes to the floor.

“That blockhead?” Skulker demanded, glaring at the man. Danny remained silent, but Skulker caught the slight widening of the half ghost’s eyes. “You actually like that moronic jock?” He grabbed the front of his white shirt and pulling him closer so their faces were mere inches from each other. “Why would you like that stupid jock?” Skulker shouted, not seeing an appeal in the jock.

Danny reached out with his uninjured hand and found Skulker’s chest. He went ghost long enough to shoot a ball of ectoplasm at Skulker. The ghost fell back at the force of the blast, releasing the half ghost. “Just stay away from me!” Danny shouted as he stumbled about his room in search of the door with his eyes closed. But Skulker caught the man first, drawing him into a tight embrace. “Let me go!”

“Just tell me why you like him and why you can’t give me a chance?” Skulker said, his voice sounding strained as though trying to remain calm.

“I don’t know why I like him,” Danny said. He gasped as Skulker’s arms dug into his abdomen when the ghost tightened his hold on the man. Danny turned ghost and slipped out of the hold. “I’ve already told you that I’m not going to fall in love with you. So stop chasing after me!”

“That jerk doesn’t even like you! I can give you a real relationship if you’ll just give me the chance,” Skulker said, caressing the young half ghost’s face as lovingly as he could.

“Stop, Skulker! It’s not going to happen. You’re just a ghost.” Danny turned his head away from the hand.

“Just a ghost?” Skulker grabbed the man by the arms and slammed him up against the door. Danny winced when his injured arm banged into the wall. “And what’s your precious blockhead going to think when he discovers you’re half ghost? He’s not going to love you after that, and he probably won’t love you before finding out your little secret.”

“Shut up!” Danny shouted as the tears slid down his cheeks. His breath caught in his throat while he choked back a sob. He already knew Dash wouldn’t return the feelings he had recently discovered, but having it rubbed in his face made everything feel even worse.

Skulker wiped the trails of tears away with his thumbs. “Shh, don’t cry,” he whispered and gently brushed his lips over Danny’s lips. “I’m here for you. Let me be the one to take care of you.” He kissed Danny again, this time firmly pressing his lips to the man's lips.

Danny didn’t resist, too emotionally drained to fight. When Skulker pulled away, Danny opened his eyes, their meeting. His knees grew weak, and he held onto Skulker to keep himself standing. His heart pounded loudly in his ears as Skulker filled his thoughts. The pain and frustration he had felt since announcing he was in love with someone to Desiree melted away. All he knew now was the love he felt for the ghost standing before him. He wrapped his good arm around Skulker’s neck and pulled the ghost in for another kiss.

 

When he woke up the next morning, Danny felt a sudden surge of panic as he shot up into a sitting position. His eyes darted around his room, searching for the ghost, but he found no one else. But on his desk, Danny noticed a note with his name scrawled out in messy handwriting. He climbed out of bed and walked over to the desk. After staring at the note for a long time, he finally picked it up to read it.

_Dear Ghost Child,_  
I’m sorry for the way things went last night. My only intention was to ask you for a chance at a real relationship. And don’t worry about what happened once Desiree’s spell went into effect. I didn’t take advantage of you.  
Skulker 

Danny stared at the note, rereading it a few times. _Didn’t take advantage of me he says_ , he thought as he let the note fall from his hand and into the trash can beside his desk. _Can I really take his word on that?_ Danny walked toward his closet to get dressed. He didn’t feel like Skulker had violated him.

“Maybe his feelings for me are real?” Danny mumbled while he searched his closet for something clean to wear. He sighed and leaned against the doorframe. He kind of felt bad for not giving Skulker a chance before, but he had already acknowledged his feelings for Dash. “Maybe I should just give Skulker a chance. It’s not like Dash would ever like me back.” He slid down the doorframe to sit on the floor and hugged his legs as he buried his face into his knees. Suddenly he felt lost and confused, not knowing what to do.

“Danny,” Maddie called, knocking on the doorframe to Danny’s room, “it’s time to get up.” She noticed her son sitting in the doorway to his closet and frowned. Danny lifted his head as he turned to look at his mother. Upon seeing the tear stained cheeks, Maddie rushed across the room and knelt beside her son. “Danny, sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

“I, um,” Danny whispered, lowering his gaze. He took a deep breath, holding it for a brief moment before exhaling slowly. “Mom, what would you do if you were stuck deciding between two men?” He bit his lower lip and then continued. “One of the men would do practically anything to win your love, but you don’t really feel anything toward him. The other man is someone you just recently realized you have feelings for, but you don’t think he could ever return your feelings. So what would you do? Should you give up on the man you possibly love and go for the guy who you know will love you?”

“Well, I don’t know,” Maddie answered. “Maybe you should try to get to know the girl you like better before giving up.”

“But I have gotten to know him!” Danny argued. “But when he found out it was me, he went back to hating me.”

“Wait a minute! ‘He?’ The person you like is a boy?” Maddie questioned. Danny nodded slowly, afraid his mother might freak out on him. “So my little baby boy is…”

“Bisexual,” Danny said. “I still like girls, but lately I’ve been more attracted to boys.”

“Oh, okay, um,” Maddie said, trying to digest the new information about her son. First, she had found out about his being half ghost. Now, she had found out he was bisexual. “I may need a little time to adjust to this.”

“I see.” Danny lowered his gaze. “Do you think Dad will be angry about my sexuality?”

“Of course not, sweetheart.” Maddie hugged her son and kissed him lightly on the forehead. “It’ll just take us sometime to accept this, but we’ll still love you no matter what. Now get dressed before you’re late for school.” She started to get up but paused. “Oh, and don’t give so easily. Just let your heart guide you.”

“Thanks, Mom.” Danny hugged his mother before letting her leave to go make breakfast. He turned to his closet and sighed as he searched for something to wear to school.


	18. Chapter 18

“Kwan, I really don’t feel up to this,” Danny said, rubbing sweaty palms on his pant legs as his insides twisted uncomfortably. Kwan had come over to his house shortly before noon and dragged the shorter man into his car. The jock decided today would be the day Danny would go on the blind date with his friend, and he wouldn’t accept “no” as an answer.

“You told me that if things didn’t work out with your mysterious masquerade guy, then you would go on a blind date with my friend,” Kwan said, grinning happily and glancing at the blindfolded man in the passenger’s seat.

“I know, but,” Danny said with a sigh. “I really don’t want to be set up right now.” He already had enough to deal with, deciding whether to keep his crush on Dash or to give Skulker a chance. He was trying to follow his mother’s advice and listen to his heart, but even his heart was confused about what to do.

“Come on, Danny! You have to give my friend a chance. You can’t just stay holed up in your house for the rest of your life. You need to get out there and have some fun.”

“I guess you’re right.” Danny leaned his head back against the seat.

“By the way, those baggy jeans you usually wear do no justice to that cute little ass you have.” Kwan grinned when he caught the blush staining the other man’s cheeks. “I mean it. You should show that ass off more often. Hell, if I didn’t think you’d match up well with me friend, I would try to win you for myself.” He never thought it was possible for a person’s entire face to get that red. Fenton looked like he had a tomato for a head.

“Could you refrain from making comments about my ass?” Danny asked as he shifted uncomfortably in the tight pants Kwan had forced him to wear before dragging Danny from his house.

“Right. I should leave those comments for your date to make.” Kwan made a happy humming sound as he drove to their destination. When they finally arrived, he parked before quickly getting out and racing to the other side of the car to help Danny. He guided the blindfolded man over to where Paulina waited with Danny’s mystery date.

“Finally!” Paulina exclaimed. “Took you long enough to get here.”

“Sorry. I had to get our boy here all dressed up.” Kwan patted Danny on the back.

Paulina looked the man over: tight baby blue shirt and tight dark blue jeans. She nodded her approval, agreeing with the improvement in clothing. The tighter clothes definitely looked better on Danny than his usual baggy clothes.

“Great! And now, onto the, um, un-blindfolding,” Paulina announced. Kwan and Paulina stood behind the man they brought to the secluded area and slowly removed the blindfolds. Dark blue eyes stared into wide bright blue eyes before both men shouted, “You set me up with _him_?”

“Dash,” Kwan growled threateningly as he glared at his teammate, “don’t you dare say anything bad about Fenton.”

“What the hell do you expect me to do when you set me up on a blind date with this loser?” Dash demanded and received a smack on the back of the head from Paulina, which hurt more from the strange electric shock that accompanied her touch.

“Don’t call him a loser!” Paulina shouted with an angry stomp of her foot. “Look. You’re both attracted to guys. Why don’t you give each other a chance? You might find that you actually like each other. As they say, opposites attract!” She grinned, but when she glanced at Danny, her smile fell. Danny had his eyes averted to the ground, looking rather depressed about the whole set up. Paulina frowned and punched Dash on the arm. “Look what you’ve done! You’ve already made him sad.”

“I didn’t even say anything!” Dash grumbled, rubbing his arm where Paulina hit him. He didn't understand the whole shock thing, but he wished she would stop using it to her advantage.

“Dash, will you please just give Fenton a chance?” Kwan asked with a pleading look on his face. “I’m sure you two would have a lot of fun together if you put aside the pathetic excuse of popular jock and loser geek. Paulina and I are going to leave you two here. If you do anything to hurt Fenton, Dash, we’ll never speak to you again.” Paulina followed Kwan to his car. The other two men watched in silence as their friends drove off without them.

“Great! I can either hang out with you or lose my two best friends,” Dash muttered, glaring at the other man.

“Hey, don’t blame this on me!” Danny exclaimed, finally lifting his head to return the jock’s glare. “Kwan has been trying to set me up with his ‘friend’ for a while now. He never told me who that ‘friend’ was.” He averted his gaze again. His heart pounded faster in his chest, and he tried to remain calm. The idea of being set up on a date with Dash made him feel a little giddy, though he knew Dash wasn’t happy with this arrangement, which hurt.

“He’s been trying to set me up too ever since Halloween,” Dash stated. A long pause followed before the jock sighed. “We come from completely different social classes.”

“I’m not stupid,” Danny mumbled. “I know it’s probably impossible for us to be the best of friends. But for Kwan and Paulina’s sakes, why don’t we at least try to get along?”

“Don’t think I’m going to be nice to you during school though,” Dash said as he turned to walk to the motorcycle nearby.

“Right. We wouldn’t want to ruin that wonderful reputation of yours.” Danny snorted and followed the jock. Dash turned back to him and thrust a helmet into Danny’s hand.

“Some of the popular crowd hang out here when they want to make out so we better not stay here too long or someone might see us,” Dash explained and received of roll of the eyes from the other man.

“So where are we going then? Some place even more secluded?” Danny strapped on the helmet with some difficulty, having only one good arm.

“Are you hungry?” Dash asked as the man slipped onto the motorcycle behind him.

A small rumble from the man’s stomach made Dash smirk. He waited for Danny to get comfortable, the cast-covered arm lying in the jock’s lap while the uninjured arm wrapped tightly around the jock’s torso. Once Danny was settled, Dash took off for his house. Danny shifted a little closer to the man, pressing up against Dash’s back as he rested his head on the jock’s shoulder. The motorcycle ride was quite thrilling, and a few times Danny thought his heart had stopped when Dash cut in front of oncoming traffic to make a turn. Dash enjoyed scaring the other man, especially since Danny would hug closer to him.

When they arrived at Dash’s house, Danny stumbled off the motorcycle, almost falling to the ground. Dash snickered a little, taking the helmet from the other man as he led the way to the front door of his house. Danny had been to Dash's house once before, but it felt strange to be invited there again. He followed Dash inside where the jock dumped the helmets on a table in the front hall. Dash then led the way into the kitchen.

“Sometimes I really wonder about what goes on in Kwan’s head,” Dash mumbled as he removed the clear lid covering the chocolate cake on the counter. His eyes glanced over his “date,” and he silently cursed Kwan for putting Danny in such tight clothing, which showed off the lithe form so perfectly. After slicing a piece of the chocolate cake, he placed it on a plate and handed it to Danny, who stood there looking confused and uncertain. “You can sit, you know.”

Danny’s mouth fell open in a little “o” shape before he scurried over to the table and sat down to eat the cake. Dash rolled his eyes and sliced a piece for himself. Grabbing two forks, he walked over to the table and joined the man. Danny took a small bite of the cake once he was handed a fork.

“Mm, this cake is heaven!” Danny moaned out before taking another bite.

Dash froze with the fork in his mouth as he watched the look of bliss cross the other man’s face while he ate the cake. Each little happy noise sent a jolt through the jock, and his chest swelled with pride. He made the cake last night, and now he watched Danny shovel it into his mouth like it was the most delicious thing in the world. Danny set his fork down once he finished and looked over to see Dash hadn’t eaten more than one bite. He frowned as Dash continued to just stare at him.

“W-what?” Danny asked, feeling uncomfortable under the jock’s gaze. Dash only shook his head and took a bite of his cake. Danny’s brow wrinkled in confusion, but then he shrugged it off. “So,” Danny mumbled as he tried to think of something to talk about, “how many people know you’re gay?”

“Just you, Kwan, and Paulina,” Dash answered, “so if you tell anyone-”

“I know, I know. You’ll kick my ass.” Danny sighed as he leaned back in his seat.

“And what a cute ass it is,” Dash whispered before stuffing another bite of cake into his mouth.

“What did you say?” Danny blinked, thinking he had heard Dash say something.

“Nothing.” Dash picked up the plates and carried them over to the sink.

Danny glanced over his shoulder to watch the jock from behind, a light blush coloring his cheeks. _I’m in Dash’s house, and we’re having a somewhat civilized conversation_ , he thought as he bit his lower lip. _Maybe we do have a chance at a relationship_.

“Why did you sign off right after replying to my IM the other day?” Dash asked while he washed the plates.

“Huh?” Danny snapped out of his thoughts. “Um, I - I thought you wouldn’t really want to talk to me since you knew my real identity. Did Lancer give you detention for fighting with Johnny?”

“Yes,” Dash growled, his hands tightening their hold on the plate. “Even if I’m the star football player, Lancer won’t let me off easy for fighting. So now I have to help in the cafeteria’s kitchen all of next week.”

“That really sucks!” Danny frowned, feeling sorry for the jock.

“It was my fault for starting the fight,” Dash said with a sigh. “But that Johnny guy just pissed me off!” He turned to Danny ready to say something when the doorbell rang. “Who the hell is that?” Dash muttered before walking out of the kitchen.

Danny sat quietly in the kitchen for a few seconds until the silence got to him, and he crept over to the doorway so he could find out who was at the door. The front door had already creaked open before he reached the kitchen doorway, and he heard Dash make an angry growling sound in the back of his throat upon seeing the person on his doorstep.

“Aaron,” Dash growled, “what are you doing here?”

“Oh, come now, Dash,” Aaron said as he stepped into the house. Danny bit back a gasp when he recognized the other man’s voice. “Is that any way to speak to your boyfriend?”

“You are not my boyfriend!” Dash shouted. “In case you forgot, you dumped me for that airhead Amanda.”

“You can’t possibly think I would dump you for her.” Aaron laughed. Danny peeked around the doorframe to find Aaron, the man who had dressed as a pirate at the dance, with his arms around Dash’s neck. “Why would I ever want a bitch like Amanda when I have you?”

Dash shoved the other man away. “Do you really think I will take you back after dumping me like that? Get out of my house!”

“What crawled up your ass?” Aaron’s expression turned to one of anger. “Do you really think anyone other than me would love you? Hello! You’re just a stupid jock. Once you graduate high school, you’ll probably just end up flipping burgers at Nasty Burger. Come on, Dash. I can take care of you.” He stroked Dash’s cheek as he closed the gap between them. “My dad’s going to make me the vice-president of his company once I graduate college, so you wouldn’t have to worry about money if you stay with me.”

Anger coursed through Danny as he listened to Aaron talk. Aaron was saying things to Dash that sounded similar to what Skulker had said to him, except Skulker had never implied that Danny was incapable of getting a decent job. _No, but Skulker had implied you would never find anyone else who would love you_ , another part of his brain reminded him. Danny couldn’t believe the way Aaron treated Dash. Aaron broke up with the jock, saying Dash was just “convenient” for sex, and now he expected Dash to take him back when the girl dumped him.

“I told you to get out. Now leave!” Dash shouted, keeping the other man at bay.

“What is wrong with you?” Aaron demanded. He shoved Dash, making the jock stumble back and tumble onto the couch. Danny’s eyes widened when he saw Aaron climb onto the couch and straddle Dash’s waist.

“Get off-” Dash’s words were cut off as Aaron crushed his lips to the jock’s lips. Dash struggled to push the other boy away, but Aaron pinned the jock’s arms over his head.

“You may be the strongest guy in your school,” Aaron said when he broke the kiss. He licked his lips, staring at Dash with a hungry look in his eyes before continuing. “But between you and me, I’m the stronger one.” He ground his hips into Dash’s, watching with amusement while the jock tried to break free from his hold.

Danny glanced around the kitchen for something to use against Aaron, and his gaze landed on the rolling pin left out near the sink. He rushed over and grabbed it before racing into the front room.

“Get off him, you bastard!” Danny shouted as he brought the rolling pin down on Aaron’s back.

“Why, you little!” Aaron knocked the rolling pin out of Danny’s hands as he climbed off the couch. The rolling pin clattered on the hard wood floor before it rolled into the front hallway. Aaron advanced on Danny, who stood still in fear now that he had lost his weapon. He brought a fist back and punched Danny in the face. Danny stumbled, tripping over his feet and landing on the floor.

Dash shot off the couch, tackling Aaron into a wall. The sudden attack knocked Aaron into a daze. Dash used that opportunity to drag the other man to the front door and toss him out of the house.

“Stay the fuck away from me!” Dash ordered before slamming the front door in Aaron’s face. He ignored the other man’s shouts as he walked over to Danny’s side. “You have to be one of the stupidest people I know,” he said, shaking his head. He helped Danny back onto his feet and led the man into the kitchen.

“He might have raped you,” Danny whispered as he averted his gaze. He leaned against the counter while Dash searched through his freezer for an ice pack to put on the other man’s black eye.

“I could have handled that myself,” Dash muttered. He found the little blue bag in the back of the freezer and slapped it onto the other man’s face. He frowned when Danny kept his gaze to the floor. “Thank you for helping me out back there,” Dash said with a sigh. He glanced at the clock to check the time. “As fun as hanging out with a loser is, my parents are coming back in about twenty minutes. So you’ll have to leave now.”

“Right. I guess you wouldn’t want your parents to see you hanging out with a loser,” Danny mumbled.

“Well, kind of. There’s also the fact that I don’t want them to have any suspicions about my sexuality,” Dash said as he led Danny to the garage, deciding to take his car so Danny could keep the bag over his black eye.

“And my being at your house would make them suspicious?” Danny asked, his good eye narrowing at the jock.

“My dad got suspicious when I had Kwan over,” Dash grumbled. “Of course, he had reason to be suspicious then. Kwan and I used to fool around quite a lot.” He unlocked the car doors and climbed into the driver’s seat.

“You and Kwan?” Danny asked, climbing into the passenger’s seat.

“Yeah, we both got curious about the whole thing a few years ago, so we used to give each other hand jobs and blow jobs.” Dash shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “Didn’t you and Foley ever jerking each other off?” He waited for the door to open before pulling out of the garage.

“No!” Danny snapped, blushing at the implication. “Tucker’s straight. _And_ he has a girlfriend.”

“You two really never experimented with each other?” Dash’s brow shot up in shock when Danny shook his head. “Wow! I thought you two would have done something together.”

“No, we never did anything! So stop trying to imply that Tucker and I used to jerk each other off!” Danny shouted. He turned his gaze to stare out the window. Dash sighed, having the urge to bang his head on the steering wheel. He hadn’t meant to make Danny mad. Silence filled the car ride to the Fenton’s house.


	19. Chapter 19

“Do you think Dash and Danny will get along?” Paulina asked as she sat on the couch in her living room with Desiree.

“If he values your friendship at all, Dash will at least try to get along with Danny,” Desiree answered, resting her head on the other woman’s shoulder. They were watching some lame movie with terrible subtitles that made the ghost feel like taking a nap instead.

“Yeah, I guess that’s true.” Paulina sighed as she set her glass of water on the coffee table in front of the couch. “I wish I could find my true love.” She leaned back on the couch again, and Desiree returned to resting her head on the woman’s shoulder.

“It takes time to find true love,” Desiree said, stifling a yawn. “Someday you’ll find someone who can touch you without being shocked.” A long silence followed before they turned to look at each other with wide eyes.

“You’re not receiving a shock right now, are you?” Paulina asked, chewing on the inside of her cheek in nervousness.

“No, no shock,” Desiree replied as she tried to digest this new realization.

“Whoa!” Paulina stood, causing Desiree to tip over from the lack of support. “That means you’re my true love. And that means…” She trailed off as she slowly sat down again. “I’m gay!” She slapped a hand over her chest. “I’m a lesbian! I like girls!” Then she paused. “This actually makes sense.”

“It does?” Desiree asked, still trying to make sense of the situation herself. She couldn’t deny that Paulina was a very attractive girl, and Paulina had been on Desiree’s mind a lot since the woman had made her wish.

“Well, yeah! I mean, my relationship with guys usually haven’t lasted more than a month,” Paulina explained. “And most of the guys I’ve dated were only interested in my body. And there was that one time in my sophomore year when I kind of experimented with this cheerleader from a rival school. Oh, and that time during my freshman year when I tried to steal Danny from his Goth friend. I think I was just trying to make her jealous.” She took Desiree’s hand and laced their fingers together. “Being a lesbian doesn’t bother me at all. What about you?”

“Well,” Desiree mumbled, dropping her gaze to the entwined hands. She hadn’t been in a relationship since the sultan’s wife banished her. Her parents had sold her when she turned fourteen. After two years of being bought by abusive men and sold back to the slave dealers, she had somehow wound up in the sultan’s harem. Even the sultan had been a rather abusive lover.

Desiree raised her head to stare into the other woman’s eyes. She could tell just from one look at those eyes that Paulina wouldn’t abuse her the way the men from her past had. But the look in those eyes was slowly growing more worried and fearful as the silence continued. Desiree lifted her hand, sliding her fingers through the other woman’s hair before leaning forward to cover Paulina’s full lips with her own. The kiss was so sudden that Paulina didn’t have the time to react before Desiree pulled away.

Paulina released a happy sigh as she rested her head against Desiree’s chest. “Kissing girls always did feel right to me.” A loud ring interrupted the moment, and Paulina jumped off the couch as she raced over to the phone. “Hello, Paulina speaking!”

“It’s Kwan,” the man said, sounding rather annoyed. “Dash is dropping Danny off at home.”

“Already?” Paulina exclaimed as a frown formed on her face. “They didn’t spend a lot of time together.”

“Yeah, it looks like Danny has a black eye,” Kwan commented as he watched the pair speak a little longer.

“What? If Dash did that, I’ll-”

“He didn’t do it,” Kwan said before Paulina could finish. Dash waved to Danny as he turned down the walkway back to his car. “Aw, Dash is leaving! He didn’t even make a move on Danny. That dumbass!”

“But if Dash didn’t do it, then who gave Danny the black eye?” Paulina asked as she twirled the cord around her finger. Desiree watched the other woman, frowning as she listened to only half of the conversation.

“Remember Dash’s ex, Aaron?” Kwan asked and continued before hearing Paulina’s answer. He knew Paulina would remember him. “He showed up at Dash’s house while Danny was there. And we both know how Aaron is. He tried to take Dash, and Danny came and hit Aaron on the back with a rolling pin. But then Aaron punched Danny, and Dash got rid of Aaron after that.”

“Woo! Go Danny!” Paulina cheered. “That ought to get him some brownie points.”

“Well, the good news is they seem to have gotten along rather well, but I guess Aaron showing up kind of killed the mood.” Kwan sighed. Dash had left already, and Danny had gone inside.

“Paulina,” Desiree whispered, drawing the other woman’s attention, “could you tell Kwan to ask Danny to meet me by the fountain in the park by the mall?”

“What? Why?” Paulina frowned as she watched Desiree stand and walk toward the front hall of her house. “Are you leaving?”

“Yeah, I just need to talk to Danny.” Desiree answered before walking out the front door. Paulina sighed as she relayed the message to Kwan, who agreed to tell Danny the ghost’s request.

 

After hanging up the phone with Kwan, Danny left his house, heading for the park. He couldn’t stop wondering why Desiree would call him out. What would the ghost have to talk to him about? He approached the fountain, steeling himself for any kind of attack. Even with a broken arm, he could still put up a fight. Desiree sat on the stone basin surrounding the fountain. Smiling, she patted the spot beside her. Danny hesitated, staring at the female ghost with uncertainty before he walked over and sat beside the ghost.

“You’re in your ghost form?” Danny asked, raising a brow at the ghost. Recently, every time he had encountered Desiree, she had been in that false human body.

“Skulker’s device is nice, but it needs to be recharged every now and again,” Desiree explained with a sad smile. “It’s a shame I can’t grant my own wishes. Or I would wish for a real human body.”

“I don’t know what you’re planning, but I’m not going to make that wish for you,” Danny said, glaring at the ghost. _Does she really think I’m stupid or something?_ he thought, his hands tightening around the denim of his jeans, which was a bit difficult considering how tightly the jeans hugged his thighs. He hadn’t had time to change before Kwan’s phone call and had rushed out of his house immediately afterwards.

“I hadn’t even thought about that.” Desiree sighed as she placed a hand over Danny’s hand, making the man flinch at the cool touch. “Please relax, Danny. I didn’t call you out here to harm you.”

“Why did you call me out here then?” Danny asked, trying to relax, but it was hard when he remembered Desiree had put that love spell on him.

“Do you remember the wish Paulina made?”

“Painfully,” Danny answered, wincing at the memory.

“Well, it turns out,” Desiree said, pausing to sigh before continuing, “I’m her true love.”

“Wait! What?” Danny exclaimed, and his eyes almost popped out of their sockets as they grew as wide as saucers. “How can you be Paulina’s true love?”

“I don’t know! It was rather shocking for me too.” Desiree raised a hand to her head and massaged her temple. “When I was alive, if the sultan found you had sexual relations with someone of the same gender, he’d sentence you to death. So I never allowed myself to even think about being with another woman. But when you’re living in a harem, you often see other women naked. Sometimes when the sultan called me into his chambers, I would think about those women that I saw. I would imagine what it would feel like to have another woman touching me the way the sultan did… when he was gentle, of course. But I quickly realized those thoughts were ones I shouldn’t have, so I banished them from my mind. I didn’t even remember having them until Paulina and I realized I was leaning against her without getting shocked.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Danny asked. As Desiree spoke, he had gradually grown more uncomfortable as images of Paulina and Desiree doing stuff popped into his mind.

“Because,” Desiree said with a sigh. She dropped her gaze to her hands resting in her lap. “Because I’ve never had the opportunity to be with someone I love. I was a slave; sold to men to do with as they wish. I’ve been tortured and raped, and I could never do anything to stop it. That’s how my people were. Women had no rights. Women were just objects to buy and use and then throw away when the men grew tired of them. Now I have this chance to be with someone who could really love me, who the fates claim is my true love. Do you know how rare it is to find your true love?”

“But why are you telling me this?” Danny asked again, not understanding.

“Because you could ruin this all for me!” Desiree shouted. “You have reasons to hate me. You can get pay back and hurt me if you really want to. That’s why I called you out. I wanted to beg you not to say anything to Paulina. Please don’t tell her I’m a ghost. If you tell her now, it could ruin my one chance for happiness. Please, Danny! All my life, I’ve had to please other people; do what they say or give them what they wanted. Do you have any idea how depressing it is to live as a slave even after death? I granted people’s wishes at first because I thought it would make me feel better to give other people happiness, but I soon realized the wish granting only made me a slave to other people. If you ruin this now, you won’t just be hurting me, but Paulina as well. Think about her feelings too!”

Danny’s mouth hung open, uncertain of what to say. Desiree had broken down crying somewhere in the middle of her speech. She had been right when she said he had reason to hate her. But were those reasons enough to cause the ghost the enormous pain that comes with losing love? And Paulina, Danny didn’t want to make her suffer because of something stupid he did.

“I promise I won’t tell Paulina you’re a ghost,” Danny finally said in a soft voice. He raised a hand and brushed the icy tears from one of the ghost’s eyes. “But you’ll have to tell her sooner or later. She has to think there’s something strange about you already since you granted her wish.”

“That’s true!” Desiree laughed, wiping her other eye. “I just - I can’t tell her yet. I want to get to know her a little better before telling her what I am.”

Danny smiled at the ghost. “I’m really glad. That this time, things are different.” A sudden image of Tucker being half ghost flashed in his mind. Danny really didn’t want a repeat of something like that. “I’m glad that you and Paulina can find happiness together. As long as you treat her well, I won’t say anything to harm your relationship.”

“Thanks, Danny!” Desiree gave the man a watery smile. “Paulina kept saying you were a nice guy, but I kept thinking of the time you caught me and threw me back into the Ghost Zone.”

“I was afraid of the damage you would do with the wish granting,” Danny said in his defense. “And can you blame me after seeing what you did to Dash, Paulina, and Tucker? I know now that not all ghosts that escape to the human world are here to do harm to humans, but back then, I didn’t know any better.”

“Learning is a part of growing,” Desiree commented, running her ghostly fingers through Danny’s hair.

They were silent after that until a noise caught the man’s attention. It sounded like something charging up, like some kind of weapon that Valerie used when she was a ghost hunter. Danny gasped when realization slapped him in the face. He jumped to his feet and moved to stand before the ghost. When the blast hit him right between his shoulder blades, Danny released a scream as every nerve ending in his body burned like it was on fire. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground.

Desiree started to check on the young half ghost when the ghost hunter landed on the ground a few feet away from where Danny now lay. She swallowed unnecessarily in fear. Danny protected her against the blast. If she got caught now, Danny probably wouldn’t forgive her. Desiree flew off as fast as she could, hoping the ghost hunter would leave Danny alone since he was in his human form.

“You got in my way again,” the ghost hunter muttered, flipping open his cell phone. “One of these days, I’m going to figure out your connection with these ghosts, Danny Fenton.” He typed in a message before hitting the send button. After putting the cell phone away, he took off to find the ghost again, leaving the unconscious man alone in the park.


	20. Chapter 20

“Danny,” Maddie said worriedly as she hovered over her son, who lay on his side on the couch. Danny struggled to open his eyes and blinked a few times to adjust them to the bright light. He noticed Kwan sitting at the end of the couch by his feet. At the opposite end of the couch, Jack’s huge body cast a shadow over his son as he came to check on Danny’s condition.

“What happened?” Danny asked in a hoarse voice, wondering how he had ended up at home again. He started to roll onto his back; then stopped and hissed at the stinging sensation where the blast had hit him.

“We were hoping you could tell us that,” Maddie answered, worry clear in the expression on her face.

“I got an anonymous message on my cell telling me to go to the park,” Kwan said. “When I got there, I found Danny lying unconscious on the ground. I thought it would be best to bring him back here.”

“Yes, thank you, um... Kwan, was it?” Jack asked and received a nod from the jock. “Thank you, Kwan, but I think you should be heading home now.” Jack took the jock’s arm and dragged him off the couch. While he was forcing Kwan to leave their house, Maddie helped her son into a sitting position and sat down beside him. When he returned, Jack sat on Danny’s other side. He crossed his arms and stared down his nose at his son. “Was that boy your boyfriend?”

“What? No! Dad, Kwan’s just a friend!” Danny shouted.

“Are you going to let us meet your boyfriend?” Jack demanded, drumming his fingers on his arm.

“I don’t even have a boyfriend yet!” Danny growled through clenched teeth.

“Jack, honey,” Maddie said in an overly sweet voice, “back off!” Her eyes narrowed at her husband, who quickly backed down. “I’m sure Danny will let us meet his boyfriend when he’s ready.”

“I don’t have a boyfriend,” Danny grumbled, frowning.

“But what’s important right now is finding out what happened in the park,” Maddie said as she rubbed her son’s shoulders to help relieve some of the tension.

“I was talking to Desiree when that ghost hunter showed up again,” Danny explained.

“Who is this Desiree person?” Jack demanded, glaring at his son with a look that said “I will find out who you’re dating.”

“Desiree,” Danny said and released sigh. “She’s a ghost.”

“You were talking with a ghost?” his parents shouted in unison.

“Yes, a ghost.” Danny sighed again, running his fingers through his hair. “Can we overlook that point for just two seconds? The ghost hunter shot me!”

“Where were you shot? What kind of weapon did he use?” Maddie asked, going into worried mother mode. She checked the visible areas of Danny’s body before lifting up her son’s shirt to check for any injury on his chest. Danny tried to point to his back, but Maddie found the wound without his help. “That looks awful! Why would a ghost hunter shoot you?”

“Okay. So I jumped in the way to protect the ghost, but that doesn’t change the fact that he shot me.”

“Why would you protect the ghost?” Jack shouted, shocked by his son’s actions.

“Ghosts aren’t all evil, you know,” Danny shouted back.

“We never said they were,” Maddie said, rubbing her son’s back to try and calm him, which caused Danny to flinch at the renewed stinging sensation. “But why would a ghost want to talk to you?”

“Um, long story,” Danny replied. “I just hope the ghost hunter didn’t catch Desiree. I wish I knew who this ghost hunter really was!” He sighed as he stood. “I’m going to my room to rest.”

“Okay, sweetheart,” Maddie said. “Do you want me to fix you anything?”

“No, that’s okay. I’m just feeling a little worn out.” Danny gave his mother a smile before jogging upstairs to his room. When he got to his room, he turned his back to the full length mirror hanging on the back of his door. He pulled his shirt up high enough to see part of the burn mark between his shoulder blades, wincing and hissing as the rough material scratched at the wounded area. Sighing, he let his shirt fall as he walked to his bed and collapsed onto it. “Every time I try to protect someone, I end up getting hurt.” Danny closed his tired eyes, hoping Desiree escaped to the Ghost Zone where the ghost hunter wouldn’t be able to catch her.

 

Kwan stared at the door to Fenton Works with a frown on his face. Lately, Danny seemed to get hurt a lot, and it was starting to worry him. He would never pressure his friend into telling him anything he wanted to keep secret, but he felt like a terrible friend when he was unable to stop Danny from getting hurt. Sighing, he turned away from the house when a hand slapped over his mouth and an arm wrapped around his waist. He struggled until his attacker lifted into the air. Kwan tensed, watching the world fall away from them.

“So you’re one of Danny’s friends,” the person said, and Kwan’s eyes widened when recognized the voice. He leaned forward, cold breath washing over Kwan’s ear. “I just want to talk with you.” Slowly, he pulled his hand away from the jock’s mouth.

Kwan swallowed, trying to wet his dry mouth. “Can we at least do this somewhere on the ground?” he asked nervously. He didn’t know what was up with this man, but if his attacker wanted to, he could drop Kwan in a second. From the height they were at, Kwan doubted he would survive such a fall.

“Fine,” the other man muttered with a sigh.

Kwan tried to push down the rush of panic as they soared through the air. Floating above the ground had made him feel sick enough. Flying and watching the world pass quickly by him below almost made him vomit. After a short time, they finally touched down on the roof of an abandoned warehouse. Kwan stumbled forward after he was released. When something cold wrapped around his wrist with a soft click, he spun around to face the man.

“What the hell are you doing?” Kwan demanded, trying to pry the handcuff from his wrist.

“I can’t have you trying to just run off in the middle of our conversation,” Johnny answered. He had the other end of the handcuff clapped around his own wrist.

“What the hell are you?” Kwan asked with a frown. “What's with that flying trick thing?”

Johnny closed the gap between them as a crazed grin spread over his face. “Don’t you believe in ghosts?” he whispered into Kwan’s ear. He held up a hand, turning it invisible for a brief moment.

Kwan watched the hand disappear and reappear out the corner of his eyes. His breath caught in his throat. “Wh-What do you want?” he stuttered nervously, not understanding what a ghost would what with him. Or Danny, for that matter.

“You know Danny,” Johnny answered, not bothering to move away. “Tell me how I can make him like me.”

Kwan stared into the other man’s eyes. Then he pushed away from Johnny, putting only as much distance between them as the handcuffs allowed. “No way,” he said firmly, glaring at the man. “I’m not helping you get with Danny. The only person I’m going to help hook Danny up with is my friend Dash.”

Johnny seized the jock by his arms and slammed him up against the wall. “Why?” he demanded, growling in frustration. “Danny refuses to give me a chance. Why won’t you help me? That blockhead doesn’t even like Danny.”

Kwan winced as the man tightened his hold on his arms. “If you treat Danny like this, I can see why he wouldn’t give you a chance,” he growled. He shoved the man hard. But when Johnny tripped over his feet and fell over, he dragged Kwan down on top of him. He sighed. “Look. You’re not going to win anyone over with that violent attitude.”

Johnny placed a hand on the small of Kwan’s back, keeping the jock from climbing off him. “Teach me,” he ordered.

“Teach you? You have _got_ to be kidding me.” Kwan stared down into Johnny’s eyes and frowned when he saw the man was serious. He punched the man in the shoulder, getting Johnny to release him so that he could climb off the man. “No matter how many times you ask, the answer is going to be no. Take the damn handcuffs off.”

“You pack quite the punch for a human,” Johnny said, mildly impressed as he sat up, rubbing his shoulder.

“Cuffs. Off. Now.” Kwan pointed at the handcuffs as he glared at the man.

Johnny shook his head as he stuck the key into the handcuff. “Someone has his panties in a twist,” he grumbled.

“Sorry. I don’t exactly like being kidnapped and ordered to help some jerk force himself on my friend,” Kwan growled, still glaring at him.

“Not force myself on him.” Johnny scowled. “I want to get him to like me.”

“It seems to me that Danny isn’t going to accept this obsession you have with him anytime soon.” Kwan had sensed some tension between the two men the day Johnny had joined their study session.

“Why is it so hard to believe that I love him?” Johnny demanded, tugging on the handcuff in his anger.

Kwan stumbled forward and tried his best not to collide into the man again. “Because you sound like you’re trying to force yourself on Danny,” he answered. “And the fact that you did something like this just proves that. I don’t think you see Danny as anything more than something to chase after.”

Johnny looked up and glowered at the jock. When they heard something snap, they both looked down to see the key broke. “That might be a problem,” Johnny mumbled.

“Don’t you have another key or something?” Kwan shouted. He didn’t want to be chained to this man forever. A surge of panic rose in him when Johnny wouldn’t answer.

 

Danny muttered to himself as he tried to gather his fallen books. He had been on his way toward his next class, cutting around behind school to avoid the crowded hallway, when he ran into some of the other football players. Neither Dash nor Kwan was present in the trio of jocks. They snickered and knocked the books from Danny’s hold before they walked off, still laughing. Now Danny would be late for class.

Once he had picked up the last of his books, Danny stood. He froze when he spotted the shadow on the ground before him. His eyes traveled across the ground, following the shadow to its owner and up the person’s body. He bit his lip when he saw the other man narrowing his eyes as his hand tightened around the bat he held. A smirk crossed the other man’s face as he stepped closer to Danny, who backed away.

“I know Dash has a thing for guys with dark hair,” Aaron said, taking long strides as he advanced toward the shorter man. “But you? Like you could ever take care of Dash the way he should be. You’re just a scrawny little coward.” He laughed when Danny’s eyes darted around the area, looking for an escape. “Aw, look! You’re shaking.”

“Shut up!” Danny growled as he stopped. He glared at the other man, refusing to continue looking like a coward before Dash’s ex. “You broke up with Dash.”

“That doesn’t mean he can go around screwing little whores like you!” Aaron shouted. He swung the bat at Danny, who ducked. “Dash belongs to me. He needs me to take care of him.”

“You’re rather full of yourself,” Danny muttered, dodging another swing of the bat. “Dash doesn’t want you anymore.” The bat smashed into the wall mere inches from Danny’s head. Too panicked over the near miss, Danny had little time to react before a hand grabbed his throat. He gasped, clawing at the arm with his one good hand.

“I can get him to change his mind,” Aaron said with a wide grin. The bat made a dull thud as it dropped to the ground. Aaron took the other man’s cast-covered arm and slammed it against the wall, chuckling when Danny whimpered in pain. “You could never satisfy him. He’ll come back to me, begging me to take him back.” He continued slamming Danny’s broken arm against wall as he squeezed his hand around the other man’s throat.

Danny’s vision began to blur with the tears gathering in his eyes. His arm throbbed in pain, and he released little whimpers every now and then. He could easily escape using his ghost powers, but he wasn’t about to let this man find out his secret.

“Let him go!” roared two men as they grabbed the back of Aaron’s shirt and yanked him off Danny, who fell to the ground coughing for air.

Danny lifted his head and watched Skulker and Kwan beat on the other man until Aaron fell to the ground, bloodied and bruised and most likely unconscious. His broken arm screamed with pain, but he ignored it as he stumbled to his feet. He stared at his two saviors, surprised to see them together.

“Am I going to have to keep watch on you?” Skulker demanded with his back turned to the man.

Kwan tried to walk toward Danny but got yanked backward by the handcuff connecting him to Skulker. Grumbling, he tugged on the chain until Skulker stumbled a few steps backward. “Are you okay?” Kwan asked, placing a hand on Danny’s shoulder.

“Pain meds don’t sound too bad right about now,” Danny answered, still shocked as he cradled his cast-covered arm to his chest. He glanced between Skulker and Kwan and lifted a brow. “What’s with the handcuffs?”

Kwan sighed and glared over his shoulder at Skulker. “Mr. Genius over there broke the key to them, so we’re stuck like this until he can figure away to get them off.”

“Yeah, but why were you handcuffed together in the first place?” Danny’s brow creased in confusion. Why did Skulker seem to have a thing for handcuffs? He could still recall the time that Skulker handcuffed him to Valerie.

“Please don’t ask.” Kwan knelt and started gathering up the fallen books to the best of his abilities. Danny followed suit and picked up the rest of the books. “Let’s get you to the nurse’s office,” Kwan suggested, taking the books from Danny. He carefully wrapped an arm over Danny’s shoulder as they walked toward the main office of the school. Skulker grabbed Aaron by the back of the shirt, dragging the man along behind them.


	21. Chapter 21

Kwan stared at the man sitting across the table from him. They kept their hands under the table, so that no one would notice the handcuffs. “This has to be one of the most embarrassing experiences of my life,” he mumbled low enough for only Johnny to hear. He would have preferred to stay away from his house while attached to the other man, but he didn’t want to make his family worry.

“Trust me. I don’t like this anymore than you,” Johnny grumbled, looking around the dining room.

The woman next to Kwan poked him. She said something that Johnny couldn’t understand while pointing at him. Kwan shook his head, replying back in another language.

“What did she just say?” Johnny asked, frowning at the jock. All night, he kept having to ask Kwan what was being said because he didn’t understand the language they were speaking.

Kwan looked down at the remainder of his dessert as a faint blush tinged his cheeks. “It’s nothing,” he mumbled. He turned to look down the table and spoke again in that foreign language. Receiving a nod from the man, Kwan stood and picked up his dishes.

Johnny did the same when Kwan glared at him. They carefully made sure no one saw the handcuffs as they walked toward the kitchen. “What is with your family?” he asked, watching as Kwan rinsed the dishes and put them in the dishwasher.

“What are you talking about?” Kwan asked, not sure if he should be offended by that comment.

“I mean, there are twenty people in there all chatting in some weird language. How do you deal with that?”

Kwan shrugged as he dried his hands. “I guess you get used to it after eighteen years,” he said and walked out of the kitchen with Johnny following him. “Just be glad I got us out of there before they broke out the Mah Jong.” He led the way upstairs to his bedroom. “So how are you going to fix this?” He shoved his hand with the cuff on it in the man’s face as he shut the door behind them.

“It’s going to take some time,” Johnny grumbled. He still couldn’t figure out what he had been thinking using the handcuffs that he couldn’t phase through.

“You have to get this thing off soon. My aunt is already-” Kwan stopped, frowning at the man.

“Is already what?” Johnny prodded as he took a step closer.

Kwan stepped back, bumping into the wall. “Nothing,” he snapped. “Just get this thing off.”

Johnny smirked at that reaction and tugged on the chain, causing Kwan to stumble forward into him. “Only if you help me.”

“What?” Kwan shouted and shoved the man. “You’re crazy. I’m not helping you.”

Johnny shrugged. “Fine with me. I don’t have anything important to do anyway, being a ghost and all.” He walked over to the bed, tugging Kwan along with him. When he dropped onto the bed, Johnny pulled the jock down on top of him. He tried not to laugh at the blushing scowl on the other man’s face.

“You can’t really want to stay chained to me like this,” Kwan muttered, narrowing his eyes at the man.

Johnny shrugged. He reached up, placing his arms behind his head. The action yanked Kwan forward until their faces were inches apart. “It’s not like you’re bad company,” Johnny pointed out, enjoying the show of confusion and panic playing across the jock’s face. It was oddly true. Kwan was fairly strong and a good partner in a fight. He reached up with his free hand, running his thumb under Kwan’s eye. “So unusual.”

Kwan started to speak when the door suddenly opened. Both of them looked over to see an older woman standing in the doorway. She stuttered out something quickly, bobbing her head before she slammed the door shut again.

“Wait, no!” Kwan shouted, trying to climb off the bed, but Johnny dragged him back down. “Let go!”

“What do they keep saying when they point at me?” Johnny demanded, gripping Kwan’s arm painfully.

Kwan winced and pried his arm free. “They think you’re my boyfriend,” he muttered, not looking at the other man. “Other than Dash, I haven’t brought another guy home, so when you came along, they immediately assumed we had to be a couple.” He was now regretting the fact that his entire family knew about his interest in other guys.

Johnny sat up and leaned close to Kwan. “Hm, so that’s why you’ve been blushing like crazy all night,” he said, sounding amused. “Too bad I like Danny instead.” He patted Kwan on the shoulder before flopping over again.

Growling, Kwan yanked the man off the bed. “He’s never going to fall for you,” he snapped as he grabbed the front of Johnny’s shirt. “You’re a complete jerk. No one in their right mind would fall for you.”

Johnny slammed the jock up against the wall. “I’ll get him to love me. He’ll realize one day that no one else can love him.”

“God, you make me sick,” Kwan muttered as his nose wrinkled in disgust. Every time Johnny spoke of his so-called feelings toward Danny, he made Kwan remember Dash's ex Aaron. “You’re so full of yourself. I can tell you right now, that’s a big turn off.” He shoved Johnny away and stomped over to his bed. "If you want to get someone to like you, maybe you should learn not to act so damn aggressively and possessively. He's not an object to be owned." He crawled under the covers and threw them over his head.

Johnny stared at the lump, trying to sort out everything that happened. Every time he tried to talk to the jock, they ended in a shouting match. _This plan failed badly_ , he thought as he lay on the bed. He wanted to go and check on Danny, but he couldn’t do that while chained to the jock. Glancing at the sleeping lump, a part of him pointed out that he could probably just bring the jock along. _No, if I do that, he’ll probably wake up and start yelling at me again_. Johnny blinked at the ceiling. _Why exactly do I care about that?_

A few seconds later, the time ran out on the device that allowed him to maintain a human body. Rings of light traveled over his body, leaving behind the ghost called Skulker. He lay there for a moment, debating his options. The jock was already sound asleep. Skulker maneuvered the other man onto his back. Carrying the man was awkward, but he somehow managed to make it work. He flew through the ceiling and left the house.

After several minutes of flying, Skulker felt the man shift positions. Then Kwan’s arms tightened around him. He sighed, knowing the jock had woken up.

“What the hell are you doing?” Kwan shouted, clinging to ghost in his panic.

From the previous time, Skulker had discovered the man’s fear of flying. “I just want to check up on Danny,” he mumbled. He flew faster through the night, and Kwan hung on tighter, burying his face into the ghost’s back. He knew it was mean to force the man to do something he obviously hated, but Skulker didn’t think he could rest that night without speaking to Danny.

Arriving at Fenton Works, Skulker easily phased through the wall into Danny’s bedroom. As soon as he touched down, Kwan slide to the floor in a shaking mass with an arm hugged around his body. He couldn't quite get his other arm around his body while it was handcuffed to the ghost. Danny stared at them before he turned a glare on Skulker, making sure not to meet the ghost’s gaze. His eyes flashed green in his fury.

“What the hell did you do to him?” Danny demanded as he knelt next to the jock.

“You wouldn’t expect him to have such a severe fear of flying, but apparently he does,” Skulker answered, shrugging. “Danny-”

“Skulker, shut up,” Danny growled, keep his gaze on the jock. He helped Kwan to his feet, unhappy to feel how cold his friend was. “Let’s get something warm in you.” He led the way out of his bedroom with an arm around the shivering jock. Skulker followed after, grumbling all the way to the kitchen.

“Hey, your parents are ghost nuts, right?” Kwan said as they entered the kitchen.

“Great,” Danny muttered, sighing. He grabbed a pot and started filling it with water. “That’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life.”

“No, I was thinking maybe they can help get these stupid cuffs off.” Kwan waved his arm with the handcuff.

“I guess they could.” Danny put the pot on the stove to boil when a thought hit him. He spun around and stared at Skulker’s feet. _Not human_ , he realized. “You know he’s a ghost? And you’re not freaking out?”

Kwan sighed, dragging Skulker with him over to the table to take a sit. “Amity Park is filled with ghosts,” he said and shrugged. “Being scared of ghosts kind of fizzles out after a while.”

“Yet the whole fly thing scares you,” Skulker pointed out, speaking into the jock’s ear. He chuckled when Kwan jumped.

“So I’m not good with heights,” Kwan grumbled, glaring at the ghost as he rubbed his ear.

Danny left the two men to bicker at each other as he walked down into the laboratory. He wasn’t surprised to find his parents busy working on some new invention. “Mom, dad,” he said, calling their attentions to him. “I need your help with something.”

“A new invention?” Jack asked, his eyes lighting up with hope.

“Not exactly.” Danny climbed the stairs again with his parents following after him. When he heard a shout and a crash, he raced up the stairs. Bursting through into the kitchen, he halted upon finding the two men wrestling each other. “Hey!” he shouted, rushing over to pull them apart. “What is wrong with you two?”

“You did that on purpose!” Kwan shouted, glaring at the ghost who had broken down in a fit of laughter. He moved to punch Skulker, but Danny stepped between them, grabbing Kwan’s arm.

“So this would be the problem,” Maddie said, frowning at the teenagers. Jack was already examining the handcuffs keeping Kwan and Skulker stuck together. “We should be able to get these open in no time. Danny, clean up the mess.”

Danny sighed as his parents dragged off Kwan and Skulker to work on the handcuffs. Crouching down, he picked up the pieces of the broken coffee mug. He dumped the pieces into the trash and mopped up the spilled tea.

As Danny put the mop away, Kwan walked back into the kitchen. “Oh, thank god,” he muttered, rubbing his wrist. “I thought I was going to be stuck to that ghost forever.”

“And here I thought you two were getting along so well,” Danny teased, grinning at his friend.

With a light flush on his cheeks, Kwan gave the shorter man a playful punch to the arm. “Yeah, if he weren’t so obsessed with you.” He shook his head and reached into the cupboard for another coffee mug.

“Keyword being obsessed,” Danny said, sighing. “I wish he would just move on. I don’t like him like that.”

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like he’s going to give up,” Kwan muttered as he frowned down at the coffee mug with a sad look in his eyes. “Why is he so obsessed with you?”

“Uh, well,” Danny mumbled, rubbing his neck as he looked away. “Hey, why don’t you just spend the night? It’s already pretty late.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Kwan said, forcing a smile. “I’ll just give my parents a call and let them know.”

Danny left the kitchen, grabbing something in the air as he walked out the door. “You can turn visible,” he muttered. Familiar rings of light passed over the ghost walking behind him, revealing Skulker in the human guise of Johnny Radcliffe. Danny shook his head and pulled the ghost out the front door. He took a seat on the steps, and Skulker hesitated before joining him. “You need to give up on me.”

“Why is it so hard to believe that I actually love you?” Skulker demanded, feeling rather annoyed.

“Because, Skulker, for four years, you’ve hunted me down as prey,” Danny explained. “Then you suddenly do an one eighty and claim to love me. But that’s not what you feel for me. To you, I’m just an object to be won. That’s not love.” He sighed, glancing over at the ghost careful not to meet Skulker’s gaze. “Why don’t you give Kwan a try? And don’t even think of denying the fact that you kept staring at him in the kitchen just a few minutes ago.”

“That’s because he speaks in that weird language,” Skulker argued grumpily. “The only reason I was even with that blockhead is because I was trying to get him to help me figure out a way to get you to like me.”

“I’m already in love with someone else, Skulker. You can’t change that. Not even with a wish.”

Skulker sighed, running a hand through his hair. “One kiss,” he mumbled. “Give me one kiss. If you feel nothing, I’ll give up.”

“Is that a promise?” Danny frowned and eyed the ghost with suspicion. When Skulker nodded, Danny leaned back on his good arm. “Fine. One kiss.” He closed his eyes to ensure that the wish wouldn’t take effect.

Skulker gently cupped his cheek. Cold lips brushed over his lips before sealing them in a kiss. It was nice, but Danny felt nothing from it.

A sudden flash caught their attention. Danny jerked away from the kiss and glanced around, but he saw nothing out of the usual. “What was that?” He climbed to his feet, still scanning the neighborhood.

“I don’t know,” Skulker answered. He took the half ghost’s hand and dragged him back inside. “So nothing at all then?”

“Sorry,” Danny replied, almost sorry for the ghost. Then he grinned. “But there’s always Kwan.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that will go well.” Skulker rolled his eyes, following Danny toward the kitchen. “Desiree made it back to the Ghost Zone safely.”

“That’s good to hear.” Relief settled over Danny upon hearing that news. Paulina had pestered him at school about where Desiree went, and he worried that she had been captured. He took a seat at the kitchen table next to Kwan, who had made a cup of tea for all three of them.


	22. Chapter 22

“Kwan, I really don’t need help getting dressed,” Danny grumbled, watching his friend dig through his closet.

“Why do you have so much baggy clothes?” Kwan tossed aside a couple more outfits that he deemed unworthy of being worn. “Do you like being invisible?”

“Sometimes it’s not so bad,” Danny muttered, looking away. He caught Skulker sitting at his desk, staring at the jock. Biting his tongue, he tried not to laugh at the ghost. He walked over to Skulker and leaned in close to his ear. “Just ask him,” he whispered low enough that Kwan couldn’t hear him.

Skulker flinched, managing not to jump. “He thinks I’m a jerk,” he argued with a frown. “And I’ve given him plenty of reason to think that.”

Danny shook his head, grinning. “Hey, Kwan,” he called, finally getting his friend to turn away from the closet. “Johnny was wondering if you could teach him that language your family was speaking last night.”

Skulker shot to his feet and tried to stop Danny, but he was too slow. Glancing at the jock, Skulker rubbed his neck. “You don’t have to,” he mumbled, unable to meet Kwan’s gaze.

“If you really want to learn, I don’t mind,” Kwan said, grinning widely. He handed off some clothes to Danny. “Which dialect were you thinking of?”

“Uh, what?” Skulker blinked as he looked back up at the jock.

“Well, there are a few different dialects. Since my family is kind of spread out, I’ve had to learn a few of them.” Kwan tried not to laugh at the surprised look on Skulker’s face. Danny patted the ghost on the back before he left the room to change in the bathroom.

Skulker shook his head. “When I was your age, I couldn’t even learn German. And you’ve learned several different dialects?”

Kwan flushed. “It’s not really that impressive,” he mumbled. “My family started teaching me as soon as I could speak.” He shrugged like it was no big deal. “Hey, can you fly me home?”

“Fly?” Skulker laughed. “Aren’t you scared of heights?”

“Shut up,” Kwan grumbled, turning around to kick some of the clothes back into Danny’s closet. “I need to get changed for school, and I would rather not bother Danny's family anymore than I already have.”

“If that’s what you want,” Skulker answered, shrugging, but he wore a smirk that made Kwan blush more. After they said goodbye to Danny, they headed back to Kwan’s house.

Danny finished getting dressed and grabbed his book bag from his room. Racing down the stairs, he yelled a goodbye to his parents before rushing out the front door. After last night, he felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. _Assuming Skulker keeps his word_ , Danny thought and shook his head.

His happy mood diminished as the day progressed and Lancer continued to show his determination to help with his problems. Danny spent most of his free time dodging out of sight from the teacher. By the end of the school day, Danny was exhausted and ready to go home and sleep. He sighed as he closed his locker. When a hand tapped on his shoulder, Danny jumped and spun around.

“Hey, Danny," Paulina greeted the man. Danny lifted his head and smiled at the woman. “I see you’ve decided to take Kwan’s fashion advice.”

“Um, yeah.” Danny averted his gaze as he hugged his good arm around his waist, feeling a little embarrassed in the tight outfit he wore. He decided not to mention that Kwan pretty much forced him to wear the outfit.

“It looks good!” Paulina grinned at the man’s embarrassments. “Anyway, Dash has decided to make me his messenger.” She rolled her eyes as she handed over the note Dash asked her to pass on to Danny.

“He couldn’t even pass it on to me himself?” Danny snorted before unfolding the note, which read: _Meet me in the park by the fountain after sunset_. Sighing, he stuffed the note in his pocket. “So how are things going with you and Desiree?”

“Oh! We spent three hours last night just talking!” Paulina answered excitedly. “I’ve never been in a relationship like this before. I mean, usually when I talk to a guy, he just pretends to be interested in what I’m saying, but Desiree actually listens to me. And I really like listening to her too. She has a lot of interesting stories.”

“I’m really glad things are working out for you two.” Danny smiled and then gasped when Paulina hugged him. “Um, why are you hugging me?”

“Desiree told me that you protected her when someone tried to attack her.” Paulina gave the man a squeeze before letting him go. “Thanks! That was so brave of you to stand up against that man like that.” She frowned when she glanced at her watch to check the time. “I got to get going now. Homework and all. Plus I have this meeting I have to go to.”

“All right. I’ll see you later then.”

They waved to each other as they walked away in opposite directions. On his way home, Danny pulled out the note and read it again. Dash wanted to meet with him. _So he really is going to make an effort to be nice to me outside of school_ , Danny thought, a small smile slipping onto his face as he headed home. When he arrived at his house, Danny bounced up the stairs to his room, barely acknowledging his mother as she greeted him. He dropped into the chair at his desk, deciding to do his homework while waiting for nightfall.

When the sun began to sink into the horizon, Danny jogged down the stairs, ready to head to the park. But his mother stood at the door with her hands on her hips and her foot tapping on the ground.

“Daniel, I received a phone call from your vice-principal today,” Maddie said, not looking very happy. “He told me that he’s worried that someone might be hurting you at school and that you’re protecting that person by staying silent.”

“Mom, that’s just a whole misunderstanding,” Danny answered as he reached for the doorknob, but his mother grabbed his hand.

“Talk to me, Daniel. What’s going on at school that I should know about?”

“Mom, it’s really nothing. You see, Desiree is this wish granting ghost and she granted Sk-Johnny’s wish to make me fall in love with him,” Danny explained quickly, wanting to leave already. “Except the wish only made me fall in love with him whenever my eyes meet with Johnny’s, and you can imagine how well that kind of wish worked out. So there was this one time I guess the spell activated. Lancer found me crying in an empty class room, but by then, the spell had worn off, and I didn’t remember anything. But there’s really nothing to be worried about because I think Johnny likes someone else now.” Danny tried to get around his mother again, but Maddie stopped him.

“That’s quite a story,” Maddie said. “Where are you planning on going now?”

“To meet Dash,” Danny answered with an exasperated sigh. “And he’ll probably get rather upset if I’m late. There’s really no reason to be worried, Mom. So can I go?”

Maddie sighed then gave her son a stern look. “Fine. But I don’t want to get another phone call from your vice-principal about possible abuse.”

“Yes, Mom.” Danny rolled his eyes. Maddie stepped out of the way, letting her son finally leave the house. Once he was out the door, Danny headed for the park to meet Dash. The nights were growing colder each day, and he instantly regretted not wearing a jacket.

When he arrived at the gate to the park, a chill ran through Danny, and it wasn’t caused by the cool breeze tousling his hair. As he opened his mouth to gasp, a wisp of blue mist escaped instead of a sound. His teeth clicked together as he snapped his jaw shut.

_Another ghost?_ Danny thought in annoyance. Why did ghosts always pop up at the most inopportune moments? He glanced around the area before hiding in some bushes. The familiar rings of light traveled over the length of his body, switching him to his ghost form. After turning on the Fenton Ghost Cloak, he flew out of the bush and searched for the ghost.

“Stay away from me!” Danny heard someone shout. When he turned toward the source, he saw Abner trying to escape the ghost hunter. He flew toward the ghost but didn’t make it in time to save Abner from being sucked into a device that looked similar to the Fenton Thermos. Danny froze as the air seemed to be sucked from his lungs, making it hard to breathe.

“You don’t show up on my radar,” Ahura said, turning to face the half ghost.

Danny’s eyes flashed as he narrowed them at the ghost hunter. He growled, forming ecto blasts in his hands. “Release that ghost,” he ordered in a low voice.

“Can’t do that. But don’t worry. You’ll join your little buddy soon enough.”

He couldn’t see it, but Danny knew the ghost hunter was smirking at him. Releasing a furious roar, Danny launched himself at the ghost hunter. Ahura shot at the half ghost, but Danny blocked the blasts with his balls of ectoplasm. When he got close to Ahura, Danny snatched at the Thermos only to be knocked away when Ahura successfully shot the half ghost’s left arm. A scream ripped through the air as he fell to the ground, holding his injured arm.

Ahura landed beside Danny with the Thermos out and ready to suck the half ghost inside it. Danny winced at the pain surging through his arm. He struggled to get up but was too exhausted. His eyes slipped shut, his breath coming in harsh pants, as he tried to go intangible and sink into the ground.

“Your ghost powers are useless now,” Ahura said, making Danny’s eyes snap open again. The half ghost remembered the time in the classroom when he couldn’t phase through Ahura’s grip. “That blast contained a dart with a drug to disable your powers for about three or four hours.”

Danny cursed silently at the amusement in the ghost hunter’s voice. Then the rings of light appeared around his waist, sending a surge of panic through him. He glanced at Ahura, whose arms had gone slack with the Thermos dangling from one hand as he watched the rings slowly traverse the ghost’s body. When the last white strand had returned to its original dark color, the Thermos dropped from Ahura’s hand, landing on the release switch and allowing Abner to escape.

“Fenton!” the ghost hunter shouted, making the man flinch. “What the hell are you?” Ahura reached up and yanked off his helmet to reveal his identity.

“Dash?” Danny exclaimed as his eyes grew wide. Dash knelt beside the other man and grabbed the front of the tight green shirt, pulling Danny up so that their faces were just inches apart.

“What are you?” Dash repeated in a slow growl.

“I – I’m half ghost,” Danny stuttered, clamping his eyes shut in fear that Dash would punch him. Instead the jock only shoved him back onto the ground.

“So this whole time I’ve been trying to figure out why you keep popping up around other ghosts, and it turns out you’re one of them.” Dash’s eyes hardened as he glared at Danny. “How many people know about this?”

“Um, well, my parents and Jazz, Tucker, Sam,” Danny said, averting his gaze. He left out all the ghosts because it seemed obvious that they would know about him. “You can’t tell anyone about this!”

“Well that’s a big fat duh! Even if I told anyone, they wouldn’t believe it.” Dash stood and turned away, folding his arms over his chest. He wasn’t sure how to deal with this new information. As a ghost hunter, it was his job to capture all the ghosts he could. Danny was half ghost, but Dash couldn’t catch him like all the other ghosts.

“Why – Why did you become a ghost hunter?” Danny asked in a soft voice. He heard a sigh from the jock, who then sat down again.

“My father dragged me up to Wisconsin with him over the summer,” Dash explained. “I met with one of his business associates, and the guy started asking me about school and stuff. Anyway, he asked me if I wanted to work for him, capturing ghosts. He would supply me with equipment, and I would send him all the ghosts I caught. Then he would pay me for every ghost I sent him.”

“Why would you do that? Do you even know what the guy wanted to do with the ghosts?” Danny demanded, resisting the urge to punch Dash for accepting such an offer.

“Hey! He was paying me five hundred dollars for every ghost. I would be crazy not to accept his offer.”

“You said this guy lived in Wisconsin?” Danny frowned when Dash nodded. “Did he live in a big castle decorated with Green Bay Packers paraphernalia?”

“How did you know?” Dash asked, looking a little shocked.

“You’re working for Vlad Masters!” Danny shouted as the temptation to punch the jock rose again, but he knew that wouldn’t be a smart thing to do. “I suppose he left out a few little details, like that he's also a half ghost, or that he wants to get rid of my father because he has this obsession with my mother. The guy is a nutcase!”

“Well, _sorry_! I didn’t know,” Dash growled, making Danny inch away from him. “All I was concerned about was the money. But I guess you wouldn’t understand anything about that since you have such a fucking nice family to live with.” Dash stood up and then stomped away toward the entrance of the park.

“Maybe if you would stick around and talk to me instead of walking off like that, I would at least know what you’re talking about,” Danny mumbled as he watched Dash disappear into the darkness. He sighed and turned his gaze to the starry sky.


	23. Chapter 23

Danny stared at his locker, his heart pounding with fear. When he had arrived at school the day after his meeting with Dash in the park, he had still been feeling down about the events from the previous night. So, when he found his locker littered with graffiti saying various derogatory terms based on his sexuality, it had made Danny’s insides twist painfully.

“Danny,” Sam said as she placed a hand on her friend’s back. She rubbed it up and down, trying to help soothe and comfort her friend.

“I can’t believe people are this immature,” Tucker muttered.

Danny would have laughed at how much that statement made Tucker sound like Sam, but he was still too struck by fear and shock. Who had told everyone about his sexuality? His friends wouldn’t tell anyone, and he doubted either Kwan or Paulina would say anything. And neither Desiree nor Skulker had any real motive to tell humans about Danny’s sexuality. That left Dash, whose only motive would be to humiliate the “loser,” but Danny couldn’t bring himself to believe the jock would do this to him.

“I always knew he was gay.” They heard one of the jocks say when a group of three passed them. Danny’s fist clenched as he tried to suppress the rage that was telling him to go punch them.

“Ignore them,” Sam said as she pulled Danny down the hallway. Tucker followed them after he sent a glare toward the jocks.

“At least Dash wasn’t with them,” Tucker commented. “I think you should try to avoid him as much as possible now that your sexuality is out.”

As they turned the corner to walk down the main hallway, the three friends froze. Covering almost every inch of the walls were pictures from the night Skulker kissed him. Some of the teachers were trying to tear down all the pictures and throw them away as quickly as possible, but they couldn’t stop everyone from seeing them. Danny panicked, his heart racing, vision growing dark, breathing becoming harder, world crumbling around him. Why would anyone do something like this to him?

“Danny,” Sam said, sounding concerned, as she turned to her friend only to find him gone. “Danny?” she whispered, trying to be subtle as she felt around the area where her friend had been moments ago. It was then that Danny realized his panic had activated his ghost powers. He backed away into a dark corner out of sight where he switched back to human form.

“Danny,” Tucker said, walking over to his friend, “is that Skulker you’re kissing in those pictures?” His expression changed to anger when Danny nodded. “Why were you kissing him? Isn’t he your enemy?”

“Tucker, we should be trying to figure out who would do this,” Sam said.

“Isn’t that obvious already?” Tucker shouted. “Who just loves to hurt Danny? Let’s think about it. Could it be Dash ‘I’m an asshole’ Baxter?”

“It wasn’t Dash!” Danny yelled as he shoved Tucker, whose mouth dropped open in shock.

“Stop yelling at each other,” Sam ordered as she smacked both men on the head. “That isn’t going to solve anything. Now, Danny, why do you think it wasn’t Dash?”

“Because he wouldn’t do something like this,” Danny answered. He pushed past his friends, ignoring the stares of the other students as he walked down the hallway.

A few girls giggled when he passed, but most of the other students glared at him with varying degrees of disgust. Danny felt his heart sink lower with dread. He couldn’t go through school like this. Once he turned the corner and was out of sight of the other students, he broke into a jog. When he arrived at the door with “Vice-Principal Lancer” imprinted on the glass pane, he knocked and waited to see if Lancer was in his office. The door cracked open as the balding man stuck his head out to see who had knocked on his door.

“Daniel Fenton,” Lancer said slowly with a rather displeased expression on his face, “you’re timing is impeccable.”

“Um, what?” Danny frowned. But Lancer ushered the man into his office without explaining his statement. Sitting in the two chairs before the vice-principal’s desk, Danny found the two men who had been the cause of his biggest headache: Dash and Skulker. The two of them looked like they had been fighting again: Skulker had a black eye, and Dash had a split lip.

“Well,” Lancer said as he sat in his chair, “would anyone care to explain what’s going on?” Skulker and Dash looked away while Danny wore a puzzled expression.

“Why are they here?” Danny asked, pointing at the other two men.

“I caught them fighting again,” Lancer answered. “Now I want to know what’s going on with the three of you. So someone should start explaining.” Silence followed, none of them wanting to talk. Danny shifted nervously on his feet. “If necessary, we can sit here all day until someone speaks,” Lancer said in a tone that made them know he was dead serious.

“Maybe you should keep your nose out of our business,” Dash muttered.

“Watch it, Baxter! Unless you want to spend another two weeks in the kitchens.” Lancer hid a smirk at the look of dread that crossed the jock’s face. “Why were the two of you fighting again?”

“I told you to stay away from him!” Dash growled, turning to glare at Skulker.

“You won’t even listen to me explain,” Skulker shouted, returning the glare. “He let me kiss him.”

“You actually let this nutcase kiss you?” Dash shouted as he turned to Danny, who flinched before narrowing his eyes at the jock.

“It was the only way to get him to see I have no feelings for him!” Danny shouted angrily. “But you have no right to tell him to stay away from me.”

“You’re the one who told me you hated him.” Dash jumped up from his chair, advancing on the shorter man. Skulker shot out of his seat and stood between the jock and the half ghost.

“Boys!” Lancer shouted, slamming down his copy of War and Peace on his desk to draw their attention back to him. “Sit down now!”

Reluctantly, Dash and Skulker returned to their seats. Danny remained pressed against the door to the office, his heart still racing with the fear that Dash had been about to punch him.

“If any one of you shouts again, all three of you will get detention,” Lancer said threateningly. He sighed, running a hand over his bald head. “Who put those pictures up along the main hallway?” Again, no one spoke, and Lancer was quickly losing his patience. “Someone had to have put the pictures up. Who did it?”

“It wasn’t me,” all three students said at the same time.

“Someone had to!” Lancer waited for them to say something, but they remained silent. “Well, if none of you did it, who would have motive to do it?”

“Maybe it was the crazy ex-boyfriend,” Skulker muttered, turning to glare at Dash once again. “He did attack Danny.”

“Why would he do something like this?” Dash asked, growing angry at the implication. He blinked and spun around to Danny. “He attacked you?”

“Because he thinks he owns you,” Danny whispered. The statement caused all eyes to turn on him as he turned his gaze to the floor. “He’s obsessed. When he saw me at your house, he thought there was something more going on between us. So he probably thinks once he gets me out of the way, you’ll return to him. He probably thought if he showed you that I was unfaithful to you, you would dump me and return to him.”

“Wow! You sure know how to pick them,” Skulker commented dryly, his attention returning to the jock.

“I didn’t know he would act like this,” Dash snapped back.

“Who is this person?” Lancer asked.

“Aaron Parker,” Dash answered. “He goes to Nosferatu High School.” He sighed, sliding down a little in his seat. “So can we go now that we know who put the pictures up along the main hallway?”

“No, we still haven’t solved the problem among the three of you. I’ll call up Nosferatu later to let them know what happened and to discuss the punishment of this Aaron Parker boy.” Lancer looked at each man in turn before continuing. “What’s going on among the three of you? A love triangle?”

“I’m no longer chasing after Danny,” Skulker said and turned to Dash. “He never did want me. I don’t know what he sees in you, but it’s clear I lost the battle for his heart.”

Danny’s cheeks heated with a blush. He resisted the urge to yell at Skulker for telling Dash about his feelings. The jock turned his gaze away from Skulker. He didn’t seem to react to what Skulker had said at all.

Lancer observed the three students. After a moment, he sighed. “I don’t want to see any more fighting going on.”

“No more fights,” Skulker agreed as he stood. Lancer dismissed them, and three of them left the office.

“Jerk,” Danny muttered, glaring at Skulker as they walked down the hallway.

“Hey, I thought we were on good terms now.” Skulker gave him a confused look until Dash suddenly shoved both of them into an empty bathroom. They stumbled forward as the jock locked the door.

“I think some more explanation is needed,” Dash stated, glaring between the two men. “You,” he pointed at Danny, “kissed him!” He pointed at Skulker, growling angrier.

“Since when do you even like Danny?” Skulker asked as he glared at the jock. Danny leaned against the wall, massaging his head as it began to hurt.

“Who I like is none of your business,” Dash snapped, meeting Skulker’s glare.

Danny wondered why they were still fighting after he had finally gotten Skulker to stop chasing him. As the other two men continued to shout at each other, little spikes of pain shot through Danny’s brain. He heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh as one of them punched the other.

“Will both of you shut up?” Danny shouted, digging his nails into his scalp as he slid down the wall to crouch on the floor. The pounding in his head grew worse.

“Fenton!” Dash shouted as he rushed over to kneel beside the man.

“What’s wrong?” Skulker asked, crouching on the other side of the half ghost.

They tried to pry Danny’s hands away from his head. His body started trembling. His skin was cold, pale, and covered with sweat. His eyes rolled back as he started to shake more violently, his body jerking in their holds.

“What’s happening?” Dash demanded as he pinned Danny’s shoulders to the wall, trying to stop the man’s jerking movements.

“How the hell am I supposed to know?” Skulker shouted as he stood. “I’ll go see if I can get some answers.” He ran off, passing through the wall.

“Is everyone here a ghost?” Dash muttered then turned back to the other man. He hesitated a moment before whispering, “Danny?”

His eyes snapped forward again. The edges of the irises were tinged red, giving them more of a violet hue. His tongue snuck out and licked along pale, chapped lips. “Wish,” he whispered.

“Wish?” Dash repeated as his brow creased in confusion. He released the man, who had stopped jerking when Skulker left the room.

“Only you,” Danny whispered before lunging forward and seizing the jock’s lips. He wrapped arms around the shocked jock’s neck and pressed closer to Dash, trying to deepen the kiss.

When he pulled back, Danny caught Dash’s lower lip between his teeth and nibbled on it for a few seconds before pressing their lips together for another kiss. After he broke the second kiss, Dash noticed Danny’s eyes had returned to their normal blue. They stared at each other for several minutes, Dash too shocked to say anything. Then Danny pitched forward, falling against the other man’s chest.

“Fenton?” Dash shook the half ghost’s shoulder, but Danny was out cold. “Just my luck,” he said, sighing, though the kisses remained quite fresh in his mind.


	24. Chapter 24

“What’s the big idea?” Desiree demanded as Skulker dragged her through the wall and into the men’s bathroom. She had been in the middle of catching up on history when Skulker appeared beside her in the library. When they entered the bathroom, they found Danny passed out in Dash’s arms. “What happened?”

“I don’t know!” Dash shouted, trying to hide the panic he had felt when Danny fell unconscious.

“Danny kind of freaked out before. I was hoping maybe you would know something,” Skulker said, bending down and trying to take Danny from the jock, but Dash refused to let go of the half ghost.

Desiree rolled her eyes at the two men. “Maybe if you two would stop fighting over him like two year olds fighting over a toy,” she muttered with a sigh. “I probably should have explained this earlier. Wishes involving one person forced to love another one are rather sensitive. You see, Danny already had feelings for Dash. Then you, Skulker, made the wish for Danny to love you.”

“Does this story have a point?” Skulker snapped, wiping a light layer of sweat from Danny’s brow. “And shouldn’t that wish have broken after I said I wasn’t going to chase after him anymore?”

“Shut up! I’m getting to it. And no, the wish doesn’t break that easily,” Desiree snapped, glaring at her fellow ghost. “So the natural feelings and wish feelings conflict with each other whenever you two are in his presence at the same time. The conflict puts strain on the wish and causes a bit of a break down in Danny’s mind.”

“So what are we supposed to do to fix this?” Skulker demanded as he stood up to tower over the other ghost, which didn’t intimidate Desiree all that much. “Why didn’t you tell me about this kind of thing before I made the wish?”

“I never thought he was in love with someone else when I offered to grant the wish,” Desiree argued before stepping around him to crouch down beside Dash and Danny. “You don’t need to panic. Danny will be perfectly fine. The spell was broken.”

“How did that happen?” Skulker asked, moving to crouch on the other side of the two men.

“So you’re a ghost too?” Dash asked as he gave Desiree a suspicious look.

“Um, yes, but please don’t tell anyone,” Desiree answered, a worried expression crossing her face. Then she turned back to Skulker. “I told you. I don’t know how to break the wish. Whatever it was though must have happened while you were gone. I felt the spell break when you were dragging me around.”

“What did you do after I left?” Skulker stared at the jock in wonder. He was surprised that anything the jock did could break Desiree’s spell. “What happened right before Danny passed out?”

“Well, he said ‘wish’ and then suddenly kissed me,” Dash answered, feeling a bit odd telling two ghosts about the kiss, though he would never admit to being one of those people who preferred not to “kiss and tell.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet!” Desiree exclaimed in an overly cheery voice. “Your kiss broke the spell.”

“Um, yeah,” Dash said with a small cough, trying to act like he didn’t care, but Desiree could tell he did by the look in his eyes. “How long will Fenton be out?”

“You can’t even call him by his first name,” Skulker muttered his complaint, eyes narrowing at the jock as he frowned. He wasn’t vying for Danny’s heart anymore, but he didn’t want to see the jock break Danny’s heart by being a jerk. Dash only sneered at him in response.

A small groan caught their attention, and three pairs of eyes turned to the half ghost. His brow knitted as he struggled to open his eyes, blinking them a few times to adjust them to the light again. Danny stared at Skulker and Desiree for a few moments until he realized someone was holding him. He glanced up at the jock and then quickly pushed himself out of Dash’s hold.

“What happened?” Danny asked, sounding a little fearful.

“You don’t remember?” Dash asked, and his face fell a little when the man shook his head. Danny had actually kissed him, but he didn’t remember it. Dash heard a snicker from his side and turned to punch Skulker. But Danny grabbed his arm, making the jock stop.

“Don’t fight,” Danny ordered. “There’s no reason.” Dash glanced at Skulker before turning his gaze away. Danny released a small sigh. “Now why is Desiree in here? This is the boys’ bathroom. Right?”

“The guys got all panicked when the spell made you freak out a bit,” Desiree explained. “But you don’t need to worry about that wish anymore. The spell on you was broken.”

“What?” Danny’s brow furrowed. He turned to Skulker and met the ghost’s gaze, surprised to find he didn't blackout like he previously did when he looked into Skulker’s eyes.

Dash stood suddenly, causing the other three to look toward him. He walked to the door, unlocking it before leaving the bathroom. Danny’s chest squeezed painfully with the thought that the jock was leaving him, reverting back to the bully who loved to abuse him. Jumping to his feet, he rushed out of the bathroom to follow the jock. Skulker watched the half ghost leave.

“Did you really think he would choose you over that jock?” Desiree asked.

“It was worth a try,” Skulker mumbled, shrugging. “At least, I got one true kiss from him.” He sighed. “But Danny felt nothing toward me.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe he chose that blockhead, but I guess I just need to move on.”

“If I can find love in my afterlife, I’m sure you can too,” Desiree said, patting the other ghost on the back.

“Ah!” Skulker’s eyes lit up. “I have a tutoring session to go to.” He grinned and started walking toward the door. Desiree followed after, pestering him about the tutoring.

 

Danny caught up with Dash in the empty hallway. Since class was still in session, they didn’t have to worry about being overheard unless someone left class to go to the bathroom. Or they started shouting at each other. Danny grabbed the jock’s arm, forcing him to stop, but Dash wouldn’t turn around to face him.

“Dash,” Danny said with desperation in his voice as he searched his mind for something to say.

“Look, Fenton,” Dash said, finally turning to face the man. He ripped to the hand off his arm and pushed Danny a few steps back. “You and I both know any kind of relationship between us other than bully and bullied would never work. So let’s just forget about everything that’s happened and return to the way things were before.”

“Forget?” Danny’s brow creased as a hurt look spread over his face at the thought of losing the semi-friendship with Dash. “How can you ask me to just forget everything? All those chats we had over the internet. Do you really think I can forget everything we talked about?”

“Why don’t you just go back to him?” Dash shouted, fists clenching with rage. “You two have more in common anyway since you’re both-”

“Do you think I wanted to be this way? I didn’t ask to become half ghost. And that has nothing to do with liking someone.” Danny paused to take a deep breath. “I like you, Dash. I never even had feelings for him. I gave him one kiss. One. Only to prove to him I didn’t feel anything. And you know what? I didn’t. Because you’re the only one I like.”

Dash snorted, shaking his head. “I can’t,” he muttered, turning to storm down the hallway.

“Wait, Dash!” Danny shouted, but the jock disappeared around the corner. He collapsed to his knees. Leaning back against the lockers, he drew his knees to his chest, hugging them tightly as he buried his face into the rough fabric of his jeans.

The bell rang, shrill and loud, but to Danny, it was a faint noise in the background of the pain screaming from his heart. The students exited their classrooms, filling the hallway and giving little notice to the man crouching on the floor. Paulina and Kwan were in the middle of a conversation when they spotted Danny.

“Danny,” Paulina said as she knelt beside the man. Kwan leaned against the lockers, standing on the man’s other side. “What happened?”

“I think I ruined everything with Dash,” Danny replied. He lifted his head high enough to rub the tears away.

“That dumb ass!” Kwan growled, pushing away from the lockers. “Give me five minutes with him, and I’ll beat some sense into him.”

“No, it’s my fault,” Danny said and grabbed Kwan’s pant leg to keep him from walking off to find the other jock. “I let Johnny kiss me to prove I felt nothing for him, but Dash doesn’t believe that.”

“Why does Dash have to be so stupid?” Paulina grumbled as she brushed the hair out Danny’s eyes. “Kwan and I will talk to him.” She shared a look with Kwan, both silently thinking of ways to help their friend.


	25. Chapter 25

Kwan tapped his pencil against the desk as he stared across the table. His mind kept turning over how best to talk to Dash about the situation with Danny. He was positive that his teammate really cared for Danny. _Why does he have to keep getting hung up on the stupid popular versus loser stereotype?_ Kwan thought with a frown.

“Hello?” someone whispered in his ear as a hand past before his eyes. Kwan jumped and turned to look at the man beside him. Skulker laughed. “What happened? You just kind of dozed off on me there.”

“Huh? Oh, sorry.” Kwan sighed as he leaned back in his chair. “I was just thinking about Dash and Danny. Dash is being such a dumbass.”

“That blockhead rejected him?” Skulker growled, getting up from his seat, but Kwan grabbed his arm.

“I don’t think having you talk to him will help,” Kwan mumbled. “I think he would sooner punch you than listen to you.” He shook his head as Skulker sat back down. “Why is he so dumb? Danny is totally in love with him, and he keeps pushing him away. And it’s not just because you kissed Danny, though that is part of it. Dash can’t get over the stereotypes. He thinks he can’t even be nice to Danny because of his reputation. Urgh! He makes me so mad sometimes.”

Skulker rubbed Kwan’s tense shoulders as he listened. “We have to get that blockhead to open his eyes.” He turned over thoughts in his head, but a moan threw off his thinking. He stared at Kwan, who rested his head on the table while Skulker continued massaging his shoulders and back. “You need to stop stressing yourself out.” He laughed as he worked out a particularly bad knot that gained another moan from the jock.

“Where did you learn to do that?” Kwan sighed out, feeling the tension in his body melt away.

Skulker shrugged. “I learned from my family’s maid when I was alive,” he explained. “She was an amazing masseur. So between tutoring sessions, I would sneak off and have her teach me.”

“Did you plan on becoming a masseur when you grew up?” Kwan wore an amused grin. He couldn’t imagine the man taking up such a career.

Skulker pressed his knuckles hard into Kwan’s back, making the man arch before groaning. “No, I just thought it would be an interesting skill to know.” He grinned at the little moans that the man kept making. Before, he thought he truly felt something for the half ghost. A sad delusion, he realized. But hanging out with the jock, he found himself feeling something different. He chewed on the inside of his cheek before he leaned down and brushed his lips over the base of the man’s neck.

Kwan jerked and sat up, staring with wide eyes at Skulker.

“Sorry,” Skulker mumbled as he averted his gaze.

“No, it’s – I thought you liked Danny.” Kwan’s brow creased as he frowned.

“I thought I did.” Skulker glanced at the jock. “But it turns out I was just obsessing over him.”

“Ha! So I was-” Kwan got cut off when a pair of lips crushed against his lips. His mind clicked off as his eyes slipped shut. When Skulker pulled away, Kwan forgot what he was about to say.

“We could always get them drunk and lock them in a room together,” Skulker suggested as he leaned forward on the table.

Kwan stared at him. His mind tried to piece together what was going on. “Um… They’re eighteen,” he said dumbly. “They’re not allowed to drink, and I don’t think that’s the best plan.”

“Then what do you suggest, Mr. Genius?” Skulker asked, poking the jock in the side. He grinned as the other man squirmed.

“I don’t know.” Kwan sighed, hanging his head. “I guess all we really can do is to try to get them together to talk things out.”

“When did you two become so buddy-buddy?” someone asked, making the two men look up to see Dash sit down across from them at the table. He sent a glare to Skulker before turning to his teammate.

“Since we’re dating,” Skulker told him with a smug smirk. He snaked an arm around Kwan’s waist and dragged the jock into his lap.

“Hey! Don’t tell him things like that,” Kwan argued, punching Skulker’s shoulder. “Just because you kissed me doesn’t mean we’re together.”

Dash glared at Skulker. “Do you going around kissing everyone or something?”

“Only the guys I like,” Skulker answered with his arms around Kwan’s waist so the jock couldn’t escape. “What do you want?”

Dash rolled his eyes. He rested his head on his hand as he looked off to the side. “I made a mistake with Danny, didn’t I?”

“A big one,” Kwan agreed, narrowing his eyes at his friend.

“He probably hates me now.” Dash frowned, and Kwan could tell he was mentally kicking himself.

“Actually, as unbelievable as it is, the little nut still likes you,” Skulker said. Part of him would have enjoyed watching the jock suffer in misery, but he didn’t want to make Danny suffer as well.

“Apologize to him,” Kwan offered. “He’ll probably forgive you if you prove you’re going to stop being a dumbass.” He sighed when Dash glared at him. “Here’s what you do,” he said, explaining to his friend the best way he could think of to win Danny back.

 

“Why are you doing this?” Danny asked, sighing as Kwan led him somewhere. His friend came over to his house and made him get dressed up in nice clothes. After blindfolding Danny, Kwan dragged him off somewhere. Danny didn’t really feel like hanging out anywhere.

He heard footsteps then the blindfold came off. Blinking, his brow knitted as he stared at the table set before him. The usual dirty picnic table had a nice tablecloth laid over it. A three prong candelabra sat between two covered platters.

“Kwan, what-” Danny started to ask as he turned and froze.

Dash offered a weak smile. He dropped his gaze as he absently folded the blindfold. “I’m probably the last person you expected to see,” he mumbled.

Danny shifted awkwardly as he hugged his arms around his body. “I thought you hated me.”

“Sit,” Dash said, gesturing to the table with one hand. After hesitating for a moment, Danny sat at the table. Dash walked around to the other side of the table and sat. “I-” He stopped and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry for how treated you. It was wrong. We both have feelings for each other, but I acted like a fool. I’ve been clinging to this whole popular versus loser stereotype and the idea that I have this reputation that I need to keep.” He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “It was completely stupid. I shouldn’t care what they think about me since I’ve dated lots of guys already. But the main point is,” he looked up to meet Danny’s eyes, “I like you, and I almost threw away my chance with you because I’m an idiot.”

Danny stared, almost not believing the words that came out of Dash’s mouth. “Do you really mean all that or are you just saying it?”

“Danny, I wouldn’t say all that if I didn’t mean it.” Dash reached over and took the other man’s hand, brushing his thumb over the knuckles. “After I left you in the hallway, I thought about things, and I realized just how stupid I was being. You’re so much different from the guys I’ve dated. Aside from Kwan, all the guys I’ve been in relationship with have mostly just used me. But you’re not like them. You actually care.” He shook his head, dropping his gaze. “You even saved me from that jerk Aaron.”

“I couldn’t let him hurt you like that,” Danny whispered, feeling his cheeks burn. “If we’re going to be in relationship though, you have to stop bullying me at school.”

“I won’t hurt you ever again,” Dash promised. He leaned over the table and pressed his lips to Danny’s lips.

 _In the end, I got the man of my dreams_ , Danny thought, grinning at Dash as the jock broke the kiss.


End file.
